\ 


\ 


PREFACE. 


THE  desire  which  has  been  repeatedly  expressed  by 
persons  cognizant  of  its  existence,  that  the  important 
and  interesting  manuscript  left  by  Gouverneur  Morris 
should  be  brought  to  light — the  portion  buried  in  Mr. 
Jared  Sparks's  history  as  well  as  the  large  and  more 
piquant  part  excluded  therefrom — induced  me  to  under 
take  the  work  of  editing  the  diary  and  letters  of  my 
grandfather. 

The  chief  object  I  had  in  view  was  to  put  in  such  a 
form  as  might  prove  attractive  to  the  public  his  letters 
and  the  notes  which  he  daily  jotted  down  during  that 
most  momentous  epoch  of  modern  history — the  period 
of  the  Revolution  in  France. 

With  no  political  principles  to  advance  or  maintain, 
and  with  no  hero  of  romance  or  of  the  sword  upon 
whose  merits  to  descant,  my  effort  was  simply  to  cull, 
from  a  voluminous  manuscript,  all  the  varied  and  striking 
incidents  in  the  world  of  politics  in  the  cabinet,  and  of 
society  in  the  boudoir  and  salon  ;  and,  by  the  light  of  the 
keen  delineations  of  character,  so  full  of  the  verve  and 
essence  of  the  moment,  therein  contained,  to  bring  into 
strong  relief  the  motives  and  actions  of  men  and  women. 


IV  PREFACE. 

Americans  will  doubtless  accord  a  ready  sympathy  to 
a  man  who  was  truly  an  American,  and  at  a  time  when 
thus  to  proclaim  his  principles  attested  an  independence 
careless  of  unpopularity.  Possibly,  too,  our  kindred  over 
seas  may  find  something  of  interest  in  the  career  of  one 
who,  though  a  rebel  against  England,  spent  the  best 
years  of  his  life  assisting  in  the  formation  of  a  govern 
ment  under  which  the  poor  of  the  earth  might  find  an 
asylum,  and  whose  views  were  consistently  "  favorable 
to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  mankind." 

ANNE  GARY  MORRIS. 

Old  Morrisania,  October,  1888. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Gouverneur  Morris.  Birth.  Education.  Graduates  at  King's  College. 
Studies  law.  Licensed  to  practise.  Early  development  of  a  taste 
for  finance,  Takes  an  active  part  in  the  events  which  ended  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Elected  a  member  of  the  first  Pro 
vincial  Congress  in  1775.  Speaks  on  finance.  Leads  in  debates  in 
the  New  York  Congress.  Draws  up  instructions  for  Franklin,  then 
Minister  to  France.  Reports  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of  a  treaty 
with  the  British  Commissioners.  Practises  law  in  Philadelphia.  Ap 
pointed  assistant  to  the  Superintendent  of  Finance.  Practises  his 
profession  after  the  war.  Becomes  known  to  the  French  Ministry 
through  a  letter  written  to  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux.  A  delegate 
to  the  Convention  which  formed  the  Constitution.  Sails  for  France 
in  1788,  .  ...  .  .  ...  i  ".  I 


CHAPTER   II. 

Morris  Lands  at  Havre.  Goes  to  Paris.  Letter  to  the  French  minister 
in  America.  State  of  Paris.  Washington's  commission.  Letter  to 
William  Carmichael.  Society  life.  Madame  de  Chastellux' s  salon 
and  others.  Paris  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution.  Madame  de  Beau- 
harnais  at  home.  Presented  to  Montmorin.  Meets  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans.  M.  de  Malesherbes.  Letter  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne. 
Madame  de  Tesse's  Republican  salon.  Hurry  of  life  in  Paris.  Lafa 
yette's  election  in  Auvergne.  Paupers  in  Paris.  Morris's  busy  life. 
Meets  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Pleasant  days  and  evenings  with  charm 
ing  women.  Dines  with  Necker.  Madame  de  Stae'l.  Supper  with  the 
Baron  de  Besenval.  Interview  with  the  Marechal  de  Castries.  Visit 
to  the  statues  at  the  Louvre.  A  day  of  misfortunes,  .  .  19 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   III. 

Dearth  of  wheat  at  Lyons.  Morris  offers  Necker  a  cargo.  Graciousness  of 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Ladies  vexed  by  long  arguments  in  the 
salons.  Ten  thousand  troops  ordered  out.  Swiss  guards  within  the 
barriers.  Necker1  s  fall  desired.  Tete-a-tete  dish  of  tea  with  Madame 
de  Segur.  King  and  princes  oppose  liberty.  Political  talk  with  the 
Bishop  of  Autun.  Makes  a  plan  of  finance  for  France.  Advises  the 
massing  of  the  Swiss  guards  round  the  king's  person.  Election  excite 
ments.  A  water-party  on  the  Seine.  An  eventful  day  at  Versailles. 
Meeting  of  the  States-General.  Magnificent  spectacle.  Mirabeau 
hissed.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  applauded.  Visit  to  Marly.  Madame 
du  Barry.  Madame  de  Segur  at  her  toilet.  Petit-Trianon  Gardens. 
Madame  de  Suze's  lapdog,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  5 1 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Morris  surprised  at  Parisian  manners  and  customs.  Tea  in  the  Palais 
Royal.  Visit  to  Romainville.  M.  de  Beaujolais.  Morris  writes 
verses  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Careless  driving.  Made  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Club  of  Valois.  Interviews  with  Judges.  Note  on  the  to 
bacco  contracts.  The  Dauphin's  death.  States-General  more  than 
ever  embroiled.  Morris  stands  for  Houdon's  statue  of  Washington. 
Strictures  on  the  Bishop  d' Autun.  Visit  to  Raincy.  The  clergy 
join  the  Tiers.  The  Salle  des  Menus  closed.  Bath  in  the  Tennis 
Court.  Great  excitement  in  Paris.  Morris's  sentiments  quoted.  His 
interest  in  France.  Necker  offers  to  resign.  The  mob  at  Versailles. 
Inflammatory  publications  at  the  Palais  Royal.  The  nobles  join  the 
other  orders.  Revolt  among  the  guards.  The  Abbaye  broken  open. 
The  king  terrified,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  <  .  85 

CHAPTER   V. 

Grain  under  convoy.  Tumult  in  Paris.  Fourth  of  July  dinner.  Visit  to 
Romainville.  Bread  scarce.  Paris  gay.  The  administration  routed 
and  Necker  banished.  M.  de  Narbonne.  Mobs  in  the  streets.  Ar 
morers'  shops  broken  open.  Scenes  in  the  Palais  Royal  Gardens.  Ter 
rible  night  in  Paris.  The  Hotel  de  P'orce  broken  into.  Morris  dons 
the  green  bow.  No  carriages  allowed  in  the  streets.  Affairs  at  Ver 
sailles.  A  cry  for  arms.  Carriages  stopped  and  searched.  The  Bas 
tille  taken.  Madame  de  Flahaut's  salon.  M.  de  Launay.  Carnival 
at  Versailles.  The  Bastille  in  ruins.  The  king  comes  to  Paris  and 
dons  the  red  and  blue  cockade.  The  procession,  .  .  .ill 


CONTENTS.  vii 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Dinner  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  Artists'  studios.  Dinner  with  Lafay 
ette.  Visit  to  the  Bastille.  The  Club.  Foulon's  head  carried  through 
the  streets.  Making  up  a  foreign  mail.  Madame  de  Montmorin. 
Ideas  respecting  a  constitution  for  France.  Asked  to  consult  with  the 
ministers.  Passport  for  London.  Journey  to  England.  Beggars. 
Impressions  of  England,  ........  133 

CHAPTER   VII. 

London.  The  Haymarket  Theatre.  The  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne.  Trum- 
bull.  The  refugees.  LadyDunmore.  The  Cosways.  Hon.  Mrs. 
Darner.  Society  duties.  Strictures  on  society.  Sail  on  the  Thames. 
Downe  Place.  Returns  to  Paris.  Critical  state  of  affairs.  Madame 
de  Tesse.  Lafayette.  Public 'opinion  sets  against  the  National  As 
sembly.  Finances.  Scarcity  of  bread.  The  Flanders  Regiment. 
Social  life.  Prepares  a  memorandum  on  subsistence.  The  queen. 
Madame  de  Flahaut.  The  banners  blessed.  The  opera.  Resistance 
to  authority  among  the  bakers.  Versailles.  Question  on  the  finances. 
Mirabeau  speaks  in  the  Assembly.  Meets  Madame  de  Stael. 
Conversation  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Asked  to  furnish  flour  for 
Paris,  .  .  . 145 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

The  feast  at  Versailles.  Consternation  at  Paris.  Morris  urges  Lafayette 
to  attach  himself  to  the  king's  party.  Disturbance  in  Paris. 
Church  property  discussed.  Expedition  to  Versailles  proposed  in 
the  Palais  Royal  Gardens.  Excited  state  of  the  people.  Carriages 
stopped  in  the  streets.  Agonizing  night  at  Versailles.  The  royal 
family  brought  to  Paris.  The  heads  of  the  Body-guard  carried 
through  the  streets.  The  royal  family  installed  at  the  Tuileries.  De 
spatches  opened  by  the  mob.  Clermont  de  Tonnerre.  The  Comte 
de  Narbonne  and  Madame  de  Stael.  Dinner  at  Lafayette's.  Conver 
sation  with  Lafayette  on  the  situation  of  France.  Mirabeau.  Madame 
de  Chastellux's  salon.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans.  The  Bishop  of 
Autun  reads  a  motion  to  be  presented  to  the  Assembly.  A  ministry 
arranged,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .168 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Deputies  demand  passports.  The  streets  alive  with  disorderly  characters. 
Houses  marked  for  destruction.  Unsafe  to  walk  about  Paris.  Necker 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

sombre  and  depressed.  Madame  de  StaePs  salon.  The  Duke  of  Or 
leans  leaves  for  England.  Morris  calls  on  Necker,  and  suggests  the 
idea  of  raising  the  price  of  bread.  Letter  to  Lafayette.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans  is  stopped  at  Boulogne.  News  of  insurrections.  Conver 
sation  in  Madame  de  Flahaut's  salon  about  intended  changes  in  the 
ministry.  Lafayette  commits  a  blunder  in  offering  himself  to  Mira- 
beau.  The  Cardinal  cle  Rohan.  Flour  to  be  imported  from  America. 
Graphic  letter  to  Robert  Morris.  Madame  de  Flahaut  disconsolate  over 
the  reduction  in  pensions, 187 


CHAPTER  X. 

Denis  Frangois  accused  of  secreting  bread  and  beheaded.  Paris  aban 
doned  to  cruelty  and  violence.  Martial  law  passed  by  the  Assembly. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans  liberated.  -He  goes  to  England.  At  the  club. 
Chit-chat  in  Madame  de  Flahaut's  salon.  Belgrade  surrenders.  Anec 
dote  of  the  5th  of  October.  Clermont  de  Tonnerre  proposes  going 
to  America.  Morris  asked  his  plan  for  restoring  order  to  France. 
Necker  unable  to  cope  with  the  difficulties.  Dinner  at  Madame 
Necker's.  Talk  about  Lafayette's  connection  with  Mirabeau  and 
with  Necker  on  plans  for  subsistence.  News  from  Flanders.  Asked 
to  take  part  in  the  administration  of  affairs.  Dines  with  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans.  Takes  the  Bishop  of  Autun  to  visit  Lafayette.  The 
Assembly  suspends  the  parlements.  Criticisms  on  the  society  in  Ma 
dame  de  Stael's  salon.  Lively  dinner  conversation  with  Madame  de 
Stael,  .....  .  .  200 


CHAPTER  XL 

Exodus  from  the  ranks  of  society.  Many  closed  salons.  Changed  state 
of  feeling.  Necker's  "plan"  for  the  Caisse  d* Escompte.  The  Pope 
quarrels  with  the  farmers-general.  Opposition  to  Necker.  Mirabeau 
describes  the  Assembly.  Lafayette's  ambition.  A  tedious  session. 
Interview  with  Necker.  Tea  at  Madame  de  Laborde's.  Plan  for 
dealing  with  the  American  debt  to  France.  Necker  converses  on  the 
constitution  then  preparing.  The  Bishop  d' Autun  asks  advice  as  to 
speaking  in  the  Assembly.  A  rumor  that  he  is  to  be  appointed  Ameri 
can  Minister  to  the  Court  of  Louis  XVI.  An  evening  in  Madame  de 
Sta  1's  salon.  Tact  of  the  hostess.  Clermont-Tonnerre  reads  a  dis 
course.  Necker  speculates  as  to  the  issue  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  of  paper  money.  The  Abbe  Delille  reads  his  own  verses 
in  Madame  de  Chastellux's  drawing-room,  .  .....  227 


CONTENTS.  ix 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  opera.  Gardell  and  Vestris.  Strictures  on  the  character  of  the  peo 
ple  of  France.  The  Caisse  Patriotique  opened.  Paris  gay  with  uni 
forms.  People  sacrifice  their  jewels  for  the  public  benefit.  Morris 
disapproves  of  Necker's  plan  of  finance.  Resolutions  passed  in  the 
Assembly  which  affect  Protestants.  The  public  debt.  The  king's 
brother  goes  to  the  Commons.  Monsieur  and  the  Favras  conspiracy. 
Lafayette  intriguing  deeply.  Morris  makes  punch  for  the  society 
at  Madame  de  Vannoise's.  His  first  suggestion  of  settling  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Asked  for  information  about  America. 
Ceremony  of  saluting  the  ladies  with  a  kiss  on  New  Year's  eve,  .  250 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Comparison  between  the  newspapers  of  1777  and  1789.  New  Year's  salu 
tations.  Scene  at  the  Chatelet.  Madame  de  Flahaut's  boudoir. 
Stoppage  of  pensions.  Lively  discussion  thereon  in  Madame  de 
StaeTs  salon.  Visit  to  the  Comte  de  Chastellux.  Message  from  the 
Parlement  of  Brittany.  Morris  examines  table  -  ornaments  for 
Washington.  Decree  in  the  Assembly  concerning  office-holding. 
Adherence  to  the  constitution  required.  Riot  in  Paris.  A  handsome 
surtout  for  the  table  sent  to  Washington.  Need  of  cultivating  the  j^-^ 
taste  of  America.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans  obliged  to  economize. 
The  Cardinal  cle  Rohan.  The  Bishop  of  Orleans.  Marmontel. 
Letter  to  Washington.  Morris  writes  a  note  on  the  situation  of 
affairs  for  the  king.  Delivered  to  the  queen  by  her  physician.  Anec 
dote  of  the  king.  He  goes  to  the  Assembly.  Conversation  with 
Lafayette, 262 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

* 

Journey  to  Antwerp.  Brussels.  Reflections  on  the  state  of  Flanders. 
Vanderhoot's  committee.  Notes  on  the  cathedral  and  galleries  of 
Antwerp.  Supper  at  M.  Cornelison's.  Agreeable  society  of  Antwerp. 
Notes  during  the  journey  to  Amsterdam.  Evening  in  Madame  Bost's 
salon.  Political  discussions.  Force  of  the  Dutch  navy.  Scene  on 
the  Merchants'  Exchange  at  Amsterdam.  News  from  France  of 
Necker's  resignation.  The  Hague.  The  churches  at  Delft.  Crosses  /^ 
to  England.  Interview  with  the  Duke  of  Leeds  on  the  treaty  and 
despatch  of  a  minister  to  the  United  States.  News  from  Paris. 
Pointed  opposition  to  Necker.  Visits  Sir  John  Sinclair.  Letter  to 


CONTENTS. 

Colonel  Ternant.  Meets  Fox  at  dinner.  Mrs.  Jordan  at  Drury  Lane 
Theatre.  Warren  Hastings's  trial.  Criticism  on  Burke  and  Fox. 
Brilliant  ball  at  Mrs.  John  B.  Church's, 296 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Reticence  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds.  Morris's  letter  to  the  duke.  Letter  to 
Washington.  Undertakes  to  negotiate  for  the  sale  of  American  es- 
'  tates.  Miss  Farren.  The  impressment  of  American  seamen.  In 
terview  with  the  Duke  of  Leeds.  Presented  to  Pitt.  Long  interview 
with  Pitt  and  the  Duke  of  Leeds  relative  to  the  treaty  of  commerce, 
non-payment  of  money  due  by  the  English  Government  to  American 
land-owners,  evacuation  of  the  frontier-posts,  etc.  The  Hastings 
trial.  News  from  Paris.  The  National  Assembly  vote  the  king  an 
allowance.  Abolition  of  the  nobility.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  in  a 
"  whimsical  "  situation.  Great  fete  of  the  federation.  Letter  to  Will 
iam  Short  at  Paris.  Strictures  on  the  young  men  of  London.  Rise 
of  the  Jacobins  in  Paris.  Lafayette's  position  insecure,  .  .321 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Various  undertakings  in  Europe.  Dulness  of  card-playing  in  England. 
Washington  approves  of  Morris's  communications  with  the  ministers. 
Letter  to  Washington  on  French  affairs.  Interview  with  the  Duke  of 
Leeds.  Continental  tour  before  returning  to  Paris.  Civilities  from 
persons  to  whom  he  had  letters.  Difficulties  of  travel  in  1790.  Un 
comfortable  inns  and  bad  roads.  Interview  with  Baron  de  Dolberg. 
Paris  again.  Flatteringly  received  by  the  Comte  de  Montmorin. 
Morris  presents  a  dog  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  The  Due  de 
Castries's  hotel  pillaged.  M.  de  Flahaut  wishes  to  go  to  America  as 
minister.  The  play  of  ''Brutus."  Much  excitement  in  the  theatre. 
Dines  with  the  Garde  des  Sceaux.  Apprehends  a  plot  of  the  Em 
peror  for  liberating  the  queen  and  restoring  the  former  government. 
Criticises  the  new  constitution.  Gives  his  opinion  of  the  condition 
of  affairs  to  Lafayette.  The  last  months  of  1790,  .  .  .  342 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Another  trip  to  London.  Stiffness  of  English  society.  Annoying  indiffer 
ence  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds  to  American  interests.  Returns  to  Paris. 
Dines  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Ternant  appointed  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States.  Conversation  with  M.  de 


CONTENTS.  xi 

Segur.  M.  de  Montmorin  wishes  Morris  appointed  Minister  from 
the  United  States.  Asked  to  confer  wifh  the  Committee  of  Com 
merce.  Dines  with  Lafayette.  Dines  with  Marmontel.  Lafayette 
vexed.  Madame  de  Nadaillac.  The  "farm  "  abolished  by  the  Assem 
bly.  The  tobacco  decrees.  Desired  to  write  a  letter  on  them. 
Letter  to  Washington  thereupon.  Some  details  of  the  affair  of  Octo 
ber  5th  at  Versailles.  Disturbance  in  Languedoc.  Trepidation  of 
the  Bishop  of  Autun.  Great  tumult  in  Paris.  Conversation  with 
Madame  de  Nadaillac.  The  Chateau  during  the  riot.  Lafayette 
confesses  the  guards  were  drunk.  Morris's  advice  to  him,  .  .  369 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  queen  intriguing  with  Mirabeau.  Morris's  impressions  of  the  Abbe 
Maury.  Madame  de  Nadaillac' s  salon.  Madame  de  Tesse  converted 
«  to  Morris's  political  principles.  Vicq  d'Azyr's  eulogy  of  Franklin. 
Morris  takes  supper  with  Condorcet.  Paris  illuminated.  First  in 
troduction  to  Lady  Sutherland.  Conversation  with  the  Abbe  Maury. 
Death  of  Mirabeau.  Discusses  with  Montmorin  Mirabeau's  succes 
sor.  Mirabeau' s  impressive  funeral.  Strictures  on  his  character. 
Robespierre  comes  to  the  front.  Morris  predicts  to  M.  cle  Mont 
morin  the  speedy  dissolution  of  the  present  Assembly.  A  visit  from 
Paine.  Madame  de  Nadaillac  talks  of  religion  and  duty.  Madame 
de  Flahaut  asks  advice  as  to  marriage.  Morris  prepares  a  note  for 
the  king  on  the  rations  for  the  French  marine.  Madame  de  Stael 
reads  her  tragedy  "  Montmorenci."  Morris  gives  her  some  advice. 
Brilliant  society  in  her  salon, 389 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Shows  M.  de  Montmorin  draught  of  a  letter  devised  as  an  answer  from  the 
king  to  the  department.  The  entours  of  the  king  resign.  Resignation 
of  Lafayette.  Sketch  of  European  politics  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Inglis,  of 
London.  A  republic  becoming  fashionable.  Lady  Sutherland's  gra- 
ciousness.  Lafayette  accepts  the  position  of  head  of  the  National 
Guards.  Montesquiou  asks  Morris  how  to  amend  the  constitution. 
Celebration  of  the  suppression  of  the  octroi.  Conversation  with 
Montmorin.  Madame  de  Nadaillac's  coquettish  character.  Morris 
suggests  to  several  ladies  positions  near  the  queen.  Madame  de  Fla 
haut  expects  one  soon.  Montmorin  weary  of  the  situation.  Visit  to 
Madame  de  Nadaillac,  ........  4°6 


xii  CONTENTS. 


'  CHAPTER  XX. 

A  visit  to  St.  Cloud.  Departure  for  England.  Visit  to  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  at  Eu.  London.  The  escape  from  the  Tuileries  and  capt 
ure  at  Metz.  Morris  returns  to  France.  The  Assembly  intend  to 
cover  the  king's  flight.  Madame  de  Lafayette  greatly  excited.  Con 
versation  with  M.  de  Montmorin.  Dinner  with  the  Americans  in 
Paris  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  The  fete  of  Voltaire.  The  king's 
nature  discussed.  Decree  passed  declaring  the  inviolability  of  the 
king.  Lady  Sutherland's  drawing-room.  What  passed  in  the  Champ 
de  Mars.  The  mob  fired  on.  Society  frightened  and  within  doors. 
Letter  to  Robert  Morris.  The  king's  aunts  harangue  the  people  of 
Rome  on  the  king's  escape.  Morris  meets  Lord  Palmerston.  Pro 
nounces  the  French  Constitution  ridiculous.  Consultation  between 
M.  de  Montmorin  and  Morris.  Morris  draws  up  a  memoir e  for  the 
king.  Madame  de  Stael  and  the  Constitution.  Her  opinion  of  the 
memoir  e  Morris  had  prepared  for  the  king.  The  Constitution  pre 
sented  to  the  king,  .  ...  .  .  .  .  .  425 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Convinced  that  Montmorin  withheld  the  memoir  e  until  the  king  had  ac 
cepted  the  Constitution.  Lady  Hamilton.  Festival  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution.  The  opera.  The  king  and  queen  received  with 
applause.  Paris  illuminated.  Letter  to  Washington  on  the  king  and 
the  Constitution.  A  coalition  dinner  with  Madame  de  Stael.  The 
current  of  opinion  against  dropping  the  king's  titles,  Sire  and  Ma- 
jeste.  A  reaction  in  favor  of  the  king.  Supper  at  Madame  de 
Guibert's.  Long  conversation  with  Montmorin,  who  says  he  can  trust 
no  one  but  Morris.  M.  de  Moustier  attests  Morris's  favor  with  their 
majesties.  What  passed  between  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Em 
peror  at  Pilnitz.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  declares  his  bankruptcy. 
Much  struggling  for  offices  in  Paris.  Moustier  thinks  Morris  mis 
taken  about  the  Constitution.  M.  de  Montmorin  declares  war 
against  the  newspapers,  .  •  .  .  .  .  .  .  .451 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Desired  to  converse  about  subsistence  at  a  royalist  dinner.  M.  de  Molle- 
ville  tells  him  he  has  proposed  him  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
Distress  of  the  Montmorin  family.  Narbonne,  Madame  de  Stael, 
and  the  ministry.  Supper  at  Lady  Sutherland's.  Morris  gives  a 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

dinner.  M.  de  Narbonne  finally  appointed  Minister  of  War.  Vicq 
d'Azyr  says  the  queen  wishes  Morris's  ideas  in  writing  on  the  de 
cree  against  the  princes.  Dinner  at  the  British  ambassador's.  Pre- 
ville  at  the  Comedie  Frangaise.  Sketching  a  form  of  government 
for  France.  Writes  a  philippic  against  the  chefs  des  rtpublicains. 
Letter  to  Robert  Morris  on  the  failure  to  effect  a  commercial  treaty 
with  Great  Britain.  Washington  nominates  Morris  for  the  mis 
sion  to  France.  Confirmed  by  a  very  small  majority  in  the  Senate. 
The  king  m  high  spirits.  Letter  to  Washington  on  the  paper  circu 
lation  of  France  and  the  general  anarchy.  The  Bishop  of  Autun  to 
go  to  England.  The  Jacobins  discover  a  plan  for  violent  change  of 
the  Constitution.  Morris  prepares  for  a  journey  to  England.  Mes 
sage  from  the  queen,  .........  476 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Morris  goes  to  England.  Suspicions  aroused  by  the  suddenness  of  his 
departure.  A  political  significance  given  to  it.  Letter  to  Washing 
ton  from  London.  Morris  hears  in  London  of  his  appointment  as 
Minister  to  France  and  receives  his  credentials.  Letter  to  Robert 
Morris  on  the  difficulties  attending  the  mission  to  France.  Dines 
with  the  Count  de  Woronzow.  Paine's  new  publication.  An  even 
ing  with  the  Duchess  of  Gordon.  Conversation  with  Woronzow. 
Bishop  of  Au tun's  mission  to  England.  Letter  to  Washington  on 
this  subject.  Mrs.  Darner's  studio.  She  is  at  work  on  a  statue  of 
the  king.  Morris  writes  a  verse  on  her  art,  .  .  .  .501 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Morris  returns  to  Paris.  Hears  rumors  that  he  will  not  be  received  in  his 
diplomatic  capacity.  Makes  arrangements  to  fulfil  the  requirements 
of  his  position.  News  from  the  armies.  Madame  de  Tarente  asks  of 
Morris  advice  for  the  queen.  Interview  with  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  Conversation  with  Moustier.  Disorder  in  the  armies.  The 
king  disarms  his  guard.  Morris  is  presented  to  the  king.  Letter 
to  Jefferson.  Dines  with  Dumouriez.  Sudden  change  in  the  min 
istry.  Jeu  de  la  Reine.  Much  movement  in  Paris.  Guard  march 
ing  under  Morris's  windows.  Monciel  asks  his  advice  in  this  crisis. 
The  deputation  from  the  faubourgs  fill  the  Chateau  and  insult  the 
queen.  Morris  goes  to  Court.  The  king  receives  a  part  of  the  mili 
tia.  Lafayette  arrives  at  Paris.  Addresses  the  Assembly.  The 
queen  polite  to  Morris, 529 


xiv  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

Condition  of  Europe  in  July,  1792.  Letter  to  Jefferson.  Morris  opens 
his  house.  Tells  Montmorin  that  the  king  should  leave  Paris.  Mor 
ris  prepares  me  moires  for  the  king.  Paris  terrified  by  riots.  The 
king  and  queen  distressed  and  in  great  apprehension.  They  expect 
to  be  murdered  at  the  Chateau.  Morris  goes  to  Court.  Very  hot 
weather.  Great  agitation  in  Paris.  Musketry  ushers  in  August  loth. 
The  Chateau  undefended  is  carried  and  the  Swiss  guards  murdered. 
The  king  and  queen  are  in  the  National  Assembly.  Morris's  house 
filled  with  frightened  people.  The  ambassadors  leave  Paris.  Mor 
ris  stays  at  his  post.  He  tells  Claviere  that  he  has  no  powers  to 
treat  with  the  new  government.  Morris's  house  searched.  Murders 
continue.  Letter  to  Jefferson  describing  the  Revolution,  .  .  551 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Lafayette  refuses  to  obey  the  Assembly.  Leaves  France  and  is  captured. 
King  and  queen  are  imprisoned  in  the  Temple.  Disorder  reigns  in 
Paris.  Murders  continue.  Morris  hears  that  the  Brissotine  faction 
desire  to  do  him  mischief.  Letter  to  Washington.  The  dangers  of 
living  in  Paris.  Trials  of  Morris's  position.  Retreat  of  the  Prus 
sians.  Apprehension  of  a  famine.  Taking  of  Nice.  Anxious  un 
certainty  of  Morris's  life.  Letter  to  Jefferson  on  the  state  of  affairs. 
Letters  to  friends  assuring  them  of  his  well-being.  Difficulty  of  send 
ing  letters  safely.  Letter  to  Alexander  Hamilton.  Morris  becomes 
aware  that  the  French  Government  desire  his  recall,  .  .  .  586 


THE  DIARY  AND  LETTERS 

OF 

GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS 


THE  DIARY  AND  LETTERS 

OF 

GOLJVERNEUR  MORRIS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Gouverneur  Morris.  Birth.  Education.  Graduates  at  King's  College. 
Studies  law.  Licensed  to  practise.  Early  development  of  a  taste 
for  finance.  Takes  an  active  part  in  the  events  which  ended  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Elected  a  member  of  the  first  Pro 
vincial  Congress  in  1775.  Speaks  on  finance.  Leads  in  debates  in 
the  New  York  Congress.  Draws  up  instructions  for  Franklin,  then 
Minister  to  France.  Reports  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of  a  treaty 
with  the  British  Commissioners.  Practises  law  in  Philadelphia.  Ap 
pointed  assistant  to  the  Superintendent  of  Finance.  Practises  his 
profession  after  the  war.  Becomes  known  to  the  French  Ministry 
through  a  letter  written  to  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux.  A  delegate 
to  the  Convention  which  formed  the  Constitution.  Sails  for  France 
in  1788. 

GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS  was  born  at  Morrisania— 
to  quote  the  record  made  by  his  father  in  the  family 
Bible— "On  the  31  of  January  about  half  an  hour  after 
one  of  the  Clock  in  the  morning,  in  the  year  1752,  accord 
ing  to  the  alteration  of  the  style,  by  act  of  Parliament,  and 
was  christened  the  4  of  May  1754,  and  given  his  mother's 
name."  Gouverneur's  father  probably  discovered  signs 
of  unusual  promise  in  the  boy  ;  for  in  his  will,  which  is 
dated  November  19,  1760,  is  the  following  request  :  "  It  is 
my  desire  that  my  son,  Gouverneur  Morris,  may  have  the 
best  education  that  is  to  be  had  in  England  or  America." 
Lewis  Morris  died  when  his  son  was  twelve  years  old,  and 
i 


2  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

the  care  of  his  education,  in  consequence,  devolved  upon 
his  mother.  Great  pains  were  taken  that  his  training 
should  be  of  a  kind  to  fit  him  for  any  career  that  might 
open  for  him. 

When  quite  a  child  he  was  placed  in  the  family  of  Mon 
sieur  Tetar,  at  New  Rochelle  ;  and  here  he  laid  the  foun 
dation  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  French  language, 
which,  in  after  life,  he  spoke  and  wrote  with  much  fluency 
and  correctness.  In  1768  Morris  graduated  at  King's  Col 
lege  (now  Columbia),  and  immediately  after  graduating 
he  studied  law  in  the  office  of  William  Smith,  afterwards 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Province  of  New  York,  but  better 
known  as  Colonial  historian  of  the  State. 

The  bar  was  undoubtedly  the  profession  where  the 
qualities  of  Morris's  mind,  his  vigorous  and  penetrating 
intelligence,  were  most  likely  to  excel.  His  elocution 
was  animated  and  persuasive,  his  voice  sonorous  and 
pleasing,  his  figure  tall  and  exceedingly  graceful  ;  all  the 
attributes  of  an  orator  seemed  to  have  fallen  to  his  share. 
Ambitious  to  excel,  full  of  hope,  with  perfect  confidence 
in  his  own  powers,  and  therefore  entire  self-possession,  it 
was  possible  for  him  to  say,  with  all  sincerity,  that  in  his 
intercourse  with  men  he  never  knew  the  sensations  of 
fear,  embarrassment,  or  inferiority. 

Licensed  to  practise  as  an  attorney-at-law  full  three 
months  before  he  was  twenty,  in  1771,  his  ambition  was  to 
make  for  himself  a  distinguished  position  at  the  Colonial 
bar.  Two  years  before  this  a  series  of  anonymous  articles 
on  finance,  occasioned  by  a  plan  proposed^in  the  Assembly 
of  New  York  to  issue  paper  money,  appeared  in  a  news 
paper.  They  all  attracted  much  attention — but  particu 
larly  one  deprecating  the  evil  of  a  paper  currency  as 
mischievous  in  its  effects  and  wrong  in  principle,  and 
only  a  means  of  postponing  the  day  of  payment,  which 


I77S-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  3 

should  be  met  by  substantial  funds,  collected  from  the 
province. 

His  studies  completed  and  his  admission  to  the  bar  se 
cured,  Morris's  thoughts  and  desires  turned  toward  Eu 
rope  and  foreign  travel.  "  To  rub  off  in  the  gay  circles  of 
foreign  life  a  few  of  those  many  barbarisms  which  char 
acterize  a  provincial  education  ;  to  form  some  acquaint 
ances  that  may  hereafter  be  of  service  to  me,  to  model 
myself  after  some  persons  who  cut  a  figure  in  the  law," 
were  some  of  the  reasons  he  gave  his  friend  William  Smith 
for  wishing  to  go  abroad.  In  further  excuse  of  the  scheme 
he  says  :  "  I  have  somehow  or  other  been  so  hurried 
through  the  different  scenes  of  childhood  and  youth,  that 
I  have  still  some  time  left  to  pause  before  I  tread  the 
great  stage  of  life,  and  you  know  how  much  our  conduct 
there  depends  upon  the  mode  of  our  education.  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  my  inclinations  have  taken  part  in 
the  debate."  His  friend  evidently  saw  serious  difficulties 
in  the  way — principally  pecuniary,  for  he  told  him  that 
his  mother  must  give  up  much  before  he  could  have  his 
wish,  and  advised  him,  even  when  the  guineas  lay  at  his 
feet,  to  "think  !  think  !  think  !"  The  voyage  was  aban 
doned  for  the  time,  and  for  the  next  three  years  Morris 
applied  himself  closely  to  his  profession. 

These  were  stirring  times,  the  colonies  and  the  mother 
country  were  disputing,  a  rupture  was  imminent,  the  port 
of  Boston  was  already  closed.  His  aristocratic  relations, 
rather  than,  as  is  generally  supposed,  his  Tory  antecedents, 
led  him  to  advocate  a  reconciliation  rather  than  a  break  with 
the  mother  country,  and  in  June,  1775,  when  this  question 
occupied  a  large  share  of  the  attention  of  the  Provincial 
Congress  of  New  York,  he  was  made  a  member  of  a  com 
mittee  to  draft  a  plan  to  settle  all  difficulties  with  Great 
Britain.  In  a  paper  written  in  1774  he  says  :  "  Taxation  is 


4  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

the  chief  bar,  and  a  safe  compact  seems  in  my  poor  opinion 
to  be  now  tendered — internal  taxation  to  be  left  with  our 
selves.  Reunion  between  the  two  countries  is  essential  to 
both — I  say  essential.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  all  men  to  seek 
reunion  with  the  parent  State.  The  spirit  of  the  English 
constitution  has  yet  a  little  influence  left,  and  but  a  little. 
The  remains  of  it  will  give  the  wealthy  people  a  superior 
ity  this  time,  but  would  they  secure  it,  they  must  banish 
all  schoolmasters,  and  confine  all  knowledge  to  themselves. 
This  cannot  be — the  mob  begin  to  think — the  gentry  be 
gin  to  fear  this— their  committee  will  be  appointed — they 
will  deceive  the  people  and  again  forfeit  a  share  of  their 
confidence.  And  if  these  are  instances  of  what  with  one 
side  is  policy,  with  the  other  perfidy,  farewell  aristocracy. 
I  see,  and  I  see  it  with  fear  and  trembling,  that  if  the  dis 
putes  with  Britain  continue,  we  shall  be  under  the  worst  of 
all  possible  dominions — the  dominion  of  a  riotous  mob  !  " 
When  the  crisis  finally  came,  Morris,  illustrating  the 
justice  of  Madison's  subsequent  eulogy  of  him,  namely, 
that  "to  the  brilliancy  of  his  genius  was  added  what  is 
too  rare,  a  candid  surrender  of  his  opinions,  when  the 
lights  of  discussion  satisfied  him,"  came  promptly  for 
ward  to  aid  his  country  in  the  struggle,  and  from  that 
moment  he  was  to  be  found  among  the  patriots  who  were 
bravest  arid  most  constant.  ( He  was  already  an  expert  in 
finance,  and  at  once  rendered  most  efficient  service  in 
drawing  up  a  plan  to  raise  money  for  the  expenses  of  the 
army,  and  other  military  operations.  This  subject  was 
one  of  the  first  and  most  important  which  occupied  the  at 
tention  of  the  members  of  the  first  Provincial  Congress  of 
New  York,  to  which  he  was  elected  a  member  in  1775. 
The  extent  of  his  knowledge  of  this  exceedingly  intricate 
subject  surprised  his  fellow-workers  on  the  committee,  and 
when  the  report  was  read,  before  a  large  audience  of  in- 


1776.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  5 

terested  persons,  he  spoke  with  a  remarkable  force  and 
eloquence.  His  dignity  and  persuasive  manner  strongly 
appealed  to  the  sympathy  of  his  audience,  and  the  young 
orator  of  twenty-three  carried  off  the  honors  of  the  day. 
The  report  as  it  came  from  his  pen  was  forwarded  to  the 
Continental  Congress  and  adopted  without  amendment 
or  change.  ) 

^Matters  had  by  this  time  come  to  such  a  pass,  between 
England  and  her  colonies,  that  in  May  of  this  year,  1776, 
the  Continental  Congress  recommended  to  the  various 
assemblies  and  conventions  of  the  colonies,  the  adoption 
of  such  regular  constitutions  and  forms  of  government  as 
might  best  suit  their  several  needs.  In  the  third  New 
York  Congress,  then  assembled,  Morris  took  the  lead  in 
the  debates  relative  to  the  adoption  of  a  new  form  of  gov 
ernment.  The  Tory  element  in  the  Congress  still  feared 
to  take  any  decided  step  that  might  show  absolute  disloy 
alty  to  the  King.  And  among  the  many  wealthy  families 
owning  large  estates  and  with  Tory  proclivities,  there 
was  still  a  hope  of  at  least  a  patched-up  reconciliation 
with  Great  Britain.  Up  to  this  time,  indeed,  the  question 
of  independence  had  seemed  scarcely  a  serious  one.  But 
Morris  earnestly  favored  in  the  Congress  the  formation 
of  a  new  government.  He  believed  that  the  time  had 
come  to  take  such  a  step  ;  that  the  dignity  of  a  free  people 
had  been  outraged  by  the  oppressions  of  England ;  that 
to  submit  longer  would  be  a  crime  against  justice  and  a 
mockery  of  liberty.  Fragments  of  a  speech  made  by  him 
during  the  course  of  the  debates  still  exist,  in  which  he 
touched  upon  the  already  hackneyed  theme  of  reconcilia 
tion  as  the  phantom  which  had  long  deluded  the  fancy 
of  his  associates  in  the  Congress.  "A  connection  with 
Great  Britain  cannot  exist,  and  independence  is  absolutely 
necessary.  .  .  .  We  run  a  hazard  in  one  path  I  con- 


6  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

fess,  but  then  we  are  infallibly  ruined  if  we  pursue  the  oth 
er.  ...  Some,  nay  many,  persons  in  America  dislike 
the  word  Independence  ;  for  my  own  part  I  see  no  reason 
why  Congress  is  not  full  as  good  a  word  as  States-General 
— or  Parliament ;  and  it  is  a  mighty  easy  matter  to  please 
people  when  a  single  sound  will  effect  it.  .  .  .  It  is  quite 
a  hackneyed  topic  boldly  insisted  on,  though  very  lightly 
assumed,  that  the  instant  an  American  independence  is 
declared  we  shall  have  all  the  powers  of  Europe  on  our 
backs.  Experience,  sir,  has  taught  those  powers  and  will 
teach  them  more  clearly  every  day,  that  an  American  war 
is  tedious,  expensive,  uncertain,  and  ruinous.  Nations  do 
not  make  war  without  some  view.  Should  they  be  able 
to  conquer  America,  it  would  cost  them  more  to  maintain 
such  conquest,  than  the  fee  simple  of  the  country  is  worth." 
He  made  a  strong  appeal  for  the  political  liberty  of  the 
country,  which  he  thought  might  be  secured  by  the  sim 
plest  contrivance  imaginable — "dividing  the  country  into 
small  districts,  the  annual  election  of  members  to  Con 
gress,  and  every  member  incapacitated  from  serving  more 
than  one  year  out  of  three.  Why  should  we  hesitate  ? 
Have  you  the  least  hope  in  treaty  ?  Will  you  trust  the 
Commissioners  ?  Trust  crocodiles,  trust  the  hungry  wolf 
in  your  flock  or  a  rattlesnake  near  your  bosom,  you  may 
yet  be  something  wise.  But  trust  the  King,  his  Ministers, 
his  Commissioners,  it  is  madness  in  the  extreme.  Why 
will  you  trust  them?  Why  force  yourself  to  make  a  daily 
resort  to  arms  ?  Is  this  miserable  country  to  be  plunged 
in  an  endless  war  ?  Must  each  revolving  year  come  heavy 
laden  with  those  dismal  scenes  which  we  have  already  wit 
nessed  ?  If  so,  farewell  liberty,  farewell  virtue,  farewell 
happiness  !  " 

With  the  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  colonies  in  1776,  pub 
lic  sentiment  in  New  York  underwent  a  change,  and  five 


1776.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  7 

days  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  Congress 
of  that  Colony  declared  their  intention  to  support  that  inde 
pendence  at  all  risks.  When  the  Constitution  of  the  State 
of  New  York  was  made,  in  August,  1776,  Morris  labored 
to  introduce  into  it  an  article  prohibiting  domestic  slavery, 
but  he  was  not  successful.  A  letter  to  his  mother  in  this 
year  expressed  the  deep  feeling  with  which  the  prospect 
of  the  war  filled  him.  "What  may  be  the  event  of  the 
present  war,"  he  says,  "it  is  not  in  man  to  determine. 
Great  revolutions  of  empire  are  seldom  achieved  without 
much  human  calamity,  but  the  worst  which  can  happen  is 
to  fall  on  the  last  bleak  mountain  of  America,  and  he  who 
dies  there,  in  defense  of  the  injured  rights  of  mankind,  is 
happier  than  his  conqueror,  more  beloved  by  mankind, 
more  applauded  by  his  own  heart." 

After  the  new  Constitution  of  New  York  had  been 
adopted,  Morris  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Continen 
tal  Congress,  but  owing  to  the  critical  state  of  affairs  in 
his  own  State  he  was  unable  to  attend.  In  October  he 
was  elected  a  second  time.  He  had  been  in  public  life 
for  nearly  three  years  and  had  established  a  reputation 
for  talents  of  no  ordinary  kind.  Congress  honored  him 
the  day  he  presented  his  credentials  by  appointing  him 
one  of  a  committee  of  five  of  great  importance.  The  army 
with  Washington  at  Valley  Forge  were  discouraged  and 
demoralized  by  the  terrible  winter,  and  there,  in  concert 
with  the  general-in-chief,  a  plan  was  prepared  to  reor 
ganize  the  army,  clothe  and  feed  them,  and  regulate  the 
medical  department.  Approved  and  adopted  by  Con 
gress,  the  effects  of  the  plan  were  soon  manifest.  Dur 
ing  this  winter  which  Morris  spent  at  Valley  Forge  he 
formed  a  life-long  and  intimate  friendship  with  Washing 
ton.  After  the  occupation  of  New  York  by  the  British,  he 
had  been  entirely  cut  off  from  his  home  at  Morrisania  ; 


8  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

and  the  strong  Tory  proclivities  of  his  friends  subjected 
him  to  suspicion  on  the  part  of  certain  mischief-making 
persons.  Mr.  Jay  wrote  to  him  from  Philadelphia : 
"  Your  enemies  talk  much  of  your  Tory  connections. 
Take  care,  do  not  unnecessarily  expose  yourself  to  cal 
umny  and  perhaps  indignity."  In  reply  Morris  says,  "As 
to  the  malevolence  of  individuals,  it  is  what  I  have  to 
expect,  and  is  by  no  means  a  matter  of  surprise.  But  by 
laboring  in  the  public  service,  so  as  to  gain  the  applause 
of  those  whose  applause  is  worth  gaining  I  will  have  my 
revenge."  It  was  whispered  abroad  by  his  enemies  that 
Morris's  letters  to  his  mother,  which  had  to  pass  through 
the  British  lines  before  they  reached  her,  contained  mat 
ter  other  than  that  intended  for  her  and  to  the  advantage 
of  the  enemy. 

A  curious  history  is  told  of  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Mor* 
ris,  in  1775,  by  his  brother-in-law  in  London,  express 
ing  his  interest  in  Morris's  career,  bidding  him  deserve 
well  of  his  country,  and  endeavor  to  insure  peace  and  pre 
serve  good  order.  "  The  most  vigorous  preparations,"  he 
continued,  warningly,  "  are  making  to  carry  on  the  war. 
The  nation  is  united,  although  the  pulse  does  not  beat  so 
high  as  if  they  were  waging  war  against  a  foreign  enemy." 
Detained  at  New  York  because  addressed  to  a  rebel,  then 
sent  to  Halifax,  the  letter  was  thence  despatched  to  New 
York  by  a  vessel  which  was  lost  off  the  coast  of  New 
Jersey.  The  mail-bag  drifted  on  the  coast,  and  the  letter 
found  its  way  to  Burlington,  N.  J.  Morris  heard  of  its 
existence  and  asked  for  it,  but  a  mystery  surrounded  it, 
and  its  contents  had  something  suspicious  about  them  in 
the  opinion  of  those  who  had  read  it.  Eventually  it  was 
forwarded  to  Morris  by  the  President  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  had  been  prejudiced  after  reading  it,  although,  dur 
ing  the  three  years  that  it  had  been  drifting  about,  all 


I778-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  9 

Morris's  energies  had  been  given  to  resisting  Great  Britain 
and  making  the  government  secure.  The  letter  is  still 
preserved  at  Morrisania. 

His  letters  to  his  mother  were  few  and  unimportant. 
In  1778  he  wrote  to  her  that  since  he  had  left  Morrisania 
he  had  never  heard  directly  from  her,  and  "  never  had  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  of  the  many  letters  I  have 
written,  you  have  ever  received  one.  It  would  give  me 
infinite  pleasure,"  he  adds,  "  to  hear  of  my  friends,  your 
self  in  particular.  But  since  it  is  my  lot  to  know  no  more 
than  the  burthen  of  general  report  I  must  be  contented. 
I  received  great  pain  from  being  informed  that  you  are 
distressed  on  my  account.  Be  of  good  cheer  I  pray  you, 
I  have  all  that  happiness  which  flows  from  conscious  rec 
titude.  I  would  it  were  in  my  power  to  solace  and  com 
fort  your  declining  years.  The  duty  I  owe  to  a  tender 
parent  demands  this  of  me  ;  but  a  higher  duty  has  bound 
me  to  the  service  of  my  fellow  creatures.  The  natural  in 
dolence  of  my  disposition,  has  unfitted  me  for  the  paths  of 
ambition,  and  the  early  possession  of  power  has  taught 
me  how  little  it  deserves  to  be  prized.  Whenever  the 
present  storm  subsides  I  shall  rush  with  eagerness  into 
the  bosom  of  private  life,  but  while  my  country  calls  for 
the  exertion  of  that  little  share  of  abilities  which  it  has 
pleased  God  to  bestow  on  me,  I  hold  it  my  indispensable 
duty  to  give  myself  to  her.  I  know  that  for  such  senti 
ments,  which  are  not  fashionable  among  the  folks  you  see, 
I  am  called  a  rebel.  I  hope  that  your  maternal  tenderness 
may  not  lead  you  to  wish  that  I  would  resign  these  senti 
ments.  Let  me  entreat  you,  be  not  concerned  on  my  ac 
count  ;  I  shall  again  see  you — perhaps  the  time  is  not  far 
off.  Hope  the  best.  Adieu." 

Three  years  after  this  Mrs.  Morris  was  dangerously  ill. 
He  earnestly  desired  to  go  to  her,  and  she  as  earnestly  de- 


10  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

sired  to  see  her  only  son.  But  public  opinion  of  both 
friends  and  foes  was  so  strong  against  his  making  the  visit 
that  it  was  never  made.  Indeed,  in  order  that  his  motives 
for  contemplating  this  visit  might  be  publicly  known,  he 
published  a  letter  in  the  Freeman's  Journal  in  which  he 
plainly  stated  what  may  be  called  his  "  position  "  in  these 
difficult  circumstances,  as  follows:  "In  the  year  1776  I 
left  all  for  the  sake  of  those  principles  which  have  justified 
and  supported  the  revolution.  This  sacrifice  was  made 
without  hesitation  or  regret,  but  it  gave  me  real  concern 
to  leave  an  aged  parent  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  It  is 
true,  I  was  for  some  time  honored  by  my  countrymen  be 
yond  my  desert  and  beyond  my  ambition.  When  our  pros 
pects  were  very  gloomy,  I  was  deeply  engaged  in  public 
business  of  an  intricate  nature,  and  placed  in  a  variety  of 
arduous  and  critical  situations.  I  have  thought  much, 
labored  much,  suffered  much.  In  return  I  have  been  cen 
sured,  reproached,  slandered,  goaded  by  abuse,  blackened 
by  calumny,  and  oppressed  by  public  opinion.  I  have  de 
clined  many  pressing  solicitations  to  visit  my  mother 
within  the  enemy's  lines.  But  when  a  violent  disease  en 
dangered  her  life,  and  I  learnt  of  her  anxiety  to  see  me 
before  her  eyes  were  closed  forever,  I  promised  to  go. 
The  necessary  passport  of  the  British  general  was  ob-? 
tained,  but  not  the  permission  of  the  President  and  Coun 
cil  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  But  since  my  intentions 
are  disagreeable  to  you,  I  will  persist  no  longer.  Having 
already  devoted  the  better  part  of  my  life  to  your  service, 
I  will  now  sacrifice  my  feelings  to  your  inclinations." 
After  an  absence  of  seven  years,  and  only  when  peace 
was  concluded,  did  Morris  return  to  his  mother,  and  his 
home.  He  reached  Morrisaniain  time  to  help  his  mother 
prepare  her  claim  of  the  estate  for  damages  done  there 
to  by  the  British  army.  Besides  the  large  number  of 


1778]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  II 

animals  taken  for  food,  timber  had  been  cut  on  four  hun 
dred  and  seventy  acres  of  woodland  for  ship-building,  ar 
tillery,  and  firewood.  The  claim  amounted  to  ^8,000, 
but  it  was  not  paid  during  Mrs.  Morris's  life-time. 

In  October,  1778,  Morris  was  intrusted  with  the  task  of 
drawing  up  the  first  instructions  ever  sent  to  an  Amer 
ican  minister.  Dr.  Franklin  was  then  at  the  Court  of 
Versailles.  When  the  report  of  the  American  Commis 
sioners  abroad  came  in  1778,  Morris  was  elected  chair 
man  of  a  committee  of  five  to  consider  and  report  upon 
the  so-called  conciliatory  propositions  of  Lord  North  of 
fering  to  abandon  the  vexed  point  of  taxation  and  to  send 
commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Americans.  Morris  drew 
up  the  report  which  declared  that  the  United  States  could 
not  treat  with  any  commissioners  from  Great  Britain  un 
less  British  fleets  and  armies  should  be  withdrawn  and 
the  independence  of  the  United  States  acknowledged. 
This  report,  the  most  important  during  the  war,  was  unan 
imously  adopted  by  the  Continental  Congress  and  became 
the  basis  of  the  peace.  As  the  time  approached  for  the 
expiration  of  his  term  in  Congress,  rumors  reached  him 
that  a  scheme  had  been  set  on  foot  to  defeat  his  re-elec 
tion,  principally  on  the  ground  that  he  had  neglected  the 
interests  of  his  State  for  those  of  the  general  Government. 
He  was  advised  to  make  a  visit  to  the  State  legislature 
and  attend  to  his  interests  there.  This  he  did,  but  too 
late  ;  he  lost  his  election. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  he  has  left  no  record 
of  his  relations  with  the  Government  during  these  years, 
but  from  the  multiplicity  of  his  labors  it  seems  remarkable 
that  he  could  have  found  time  to  devote  to  the  necessary 
practice  of  his  profession.  Years  afterward,  when  applied 
to  for  some  written  account  of  the  events  of  the  Revolu 
tion  in  which  he  personally  took  part,  he  says  :  "  I  have 


12  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

no  notes  or  memorandum  of  what  passed  during  the  war. 
I  led  then  the  most  laborious  life  which  can  be  imagined. 
This  you  will  readily  suppose  to  have  been  the  case  when 
I  was  engaged  with  my  departed  friend  Robert  Morris,  in 
the  office  of  finance,  but  what  you  will  not  so  readily  sup 
pose  is,  that  I  was  still  more  harassed  while  a  member  of 
Congress.  Not  to  mention  the  attendance  from  n  to  4  in 
the  house,  which  was  common  to  all,  and  the  appoint 
ments  to  committees,  of  which  I  had  a  full  share,  I  was  at 
the  same  time  Chairman,  and  of  course  did  the  business, 
of  the  Standing  Committees  ;  viz.,  on  the  commissary's, 
quartermaster's,  and  medical  Departments.  You  must  not 
imagine  that  the  members  of  these  committees  took  any 
share  or  burden  of  the  affairs.  Necessity,  preserving  the 
democratical  forms,  assumed  the  monarchical  substance  of 
business.  The  Chairman  received  and  answered  all  letters 
and  other  applications,  took  every  step  which  he  deemed 
essential,  prepared  reports,  gave  orders,  and  the  like,  and 
merely  took  the  members  of  a  committee  into  a  chamber 
and  for  form's  sake  made  the  needful  communications,  and 
received  their  approbation  which  was  given  of  course.  I 
was  moreover  obliged  to  labor  occasionally  in  my  own 
profession  as  my  wages  were  insufficient  for  my  support. 
I  would  not  trouble  you,  my  dear  sir,  with  this  abstract  of 
my  situation,  if  it  did  not  appear  necessary  to  show  you 
why,  having  so  many  near  relations  of  my  own  blood  in 
our  armies,  I  kept  no  note  of  their  services.  Nay  I  could 
not  furnish  any  tolerable  memorandum  of  my  own  exist 
ence  during  that  eventful  period  of  American  history." 

After  five  years  of  active  work  in  public  affairs,  Mor 
ris  could  not  entirely  dissociate  himself  from  the  great 
events  of  the  day,  and  although,  when  he  lost  his  elec 
tion  to  Congress,  he  became  a  citizen  of  Philadelphia 
and  settled  down  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  his 


1780.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  13 

mind  was  still  actively  interested  in  the  deplorable  finan 
cial  condition  of  the  country,  and  he  found  time  to  write 
a  series  of  essays  in  the  Pennsylvania  Packet,  signed  "  An 
American."  In  these  essays  he  discusses  the  currency, 
the  coinage,  the  undesirability  of  a  compulsory  fixed  value 
for  paper  money,  and  the  banks  of  America  ;  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  find  a  more  comprehensive  view  of  the 
financial  proceedings  of  the  old  Congress,  and  the  effects 
of  the  paper  currency,  than  these  essays  contain. 

In  Philadelphia  in  May,  1780,  while  trying  to  control 
a  pair  of  runaway  horses,  Morris  was  thrown  from  his 
phaeton,  dislocated  his  ankle,  and  fractured  the  bones  of 
his  left  leg.  The  two  physicians  who  were  called  to  him 
recommended  an  immediate  amputation  as  the  only  means 
of  saving  his  life,  and,  although  this  must  have  been 
a  painful  alternative  for  so  young  a  man  to  contemplate, 
he  submitted  to  the  decree  of  the  doctors  with  philosophy 
and  even  cheerfulness,  and  to  the  operation  with  extreme 
fortitude.  The  leg  was  taken  off  below  the  knee,  and  the 
operation  has  been  cited  by  physicians  knowing  the  par 
ticulars  as  most  unskilful  and  hasty.  The  day  after  it 
took  place  a  friend  called  upon  him,  full  of  sympathy  and 
prepared  to  offer  all  the  possible  consolation  on  an  event 
so  melancholy.  He  painted  in  vivid  words  the  good  effect 
that  such  a  trial  should  produce  on  his  character  and 
moral  temperament,  enlarging  on  the  many  temptations 
and  pleasures  of  life  into  which  young  men  are  apt  to 
be  led,  and  of  the  diminished  inducement  Morris  would 
now  have  to  indulge  in  the  enjoyment  of  such  pleasures. 
"My  good  sir,"  replied  Mr.  Morris,  "you  argue  the  matter 
so  handsomely  and  point  out  so  clearly  the  advantages  of 
being  without  legs,  that  I  am  almost  tempted  to  part  with 
the  other."  Morris  seems  to  have  felt  the  force  of  his 
friend's  arguments  in  regard  to  the  balancing  effect  on  his 


14  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

character  of  the  loss  of  a  portion  of  his  person,  for  to  an 
other  friend,  also  deeply  sympathetic  and  full  of  regret 
that  he  should  have  met  with  so  grave  a  misfortune,  he 
remarked  :  "  Sir,  the  loss  is  much  less  than  you  imagine  ;  I 
shall  doubtless  be  a  steadier  man  with  one  leg  than  with 
two."  For  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  wore  a  wooden 
leg,  of  primitive  simplicity,  not  much  more  than  a  rough 
oak  stick  with  a  wooden  knob  on  the  end  of  it. 

This  simple  contrivance,  however,  suited  him  better 
than  any  of  more  elaborate  construction  which  he  after 
wards  tried  in  Paris  and  London.  Owing  to  this  accident, 
when  he  was  presented  at  Court  at  Paris  he  asked  to  be 
allowed  to  appear  without  a  sword,  and,  though  a  serious 
departure  from  court  etiquette,  the  favor  was  granted. 
During  one  of  the  years  of  his  ministry  in  Paris,  when 
carriages  were  abolished  as  being  aristocratic,  and  the 
chances  were  against  the  escape  of  any  person  discovered 
driving  in  one,  Morris,  who  seems  always  to  have  de 
fied  the  mob  though  by  no  means  averse  to  saving  his 
life,  drove  through  the  streets  followed  by  hoots  and 
cries  of,  "  An  aristocrat,"  and,  quietly  opening  the  door 
of  his  carriage,  thrust  out  his  wooden  leg,  and  said  :  "An 
aristocrat !  yes,  truly,  who  lost  his  leg  in  the  cause  of 
American  liberty ;"  whereat  followed  great  applause  from 
the  mob. 

When  Robert  Morris  was  made  Superintendent  of  Fi 
nance,  and  Congress  provided  for  an  Assistant  Superin 
tendent,  knowing  intimately  the  character  and  abilities  of 
his  friend  Gouverneur  Morris,  he  at  once  made  choice  of 
him  to  fill  the  position.  Together  they  labored  to  estab 
lish  public  credit  and  confidence,  and  with  the  small  sum 
of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  they  established,  and 
Congress  incorporated,  the  "  Bank  of  North  America." 
Gouverneur  Morris  says,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend  not  long 


1783-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  15 

before  his  death  :  "  The  first  bank  in  this  country  was 
planned  by  your  humble  servant." 

The  serious  charge  was  made  against  Morris,  during 
the  years  of  his  connection  with  the  Finance  Department, 
that  he  was  a  monarchist  and  had  advocated  using  the 
army  to  establish  such  a  form  of  government.  In  a  let 
ter  to  General  Nathaniel  Greene,  in  1781,  he  says  :  "Ex 
perience  must  at  last  induce  the  people  of  America  if  the 
war  continues  to  entrust  proper  powers  to  the  American 
Sovereign,  having  compelled  that  Sovereign  reluctantly  to 
relinquish  the  administration  and  entrust  to  their  ministers 
the  care  of  this  immense  republic.  I  say  if  the  war  con 
tinues  or  does  not  continue,  I  have  no  hope  that  the  Gov 
ernment  will  acquire  force  ;  and  I  will  go  further,  I  have 
no  hope  that  our  Union  can  subsist  except  in  the  form  of 
an  absolute  monarchy,  and  this  does  not  seem  to  consist 
with  the  taste  and  temper  of  the  people.  From  the  same 
attachment  to  the  happiness  of  mankfnd,  which  prompted 
my  first  efforts  in  this  revolution,  I  am  now  induced  to 
wish  that  Congress  may  be  possessed  of  much  more  author 
ity  than  has  hitherto  been  delegated  to  them."  He  feared 
war  between  the  States,  "  for  near  neighbors  are  very  rarely 
good  neighbors,"  and  advocated  a  centralization  of  power  ; 
but  his  actions,  as  well  as  writings,  are  his  best  vindication 
from  any  wish  to  forma  monarchy  in  America.  His  creed 
was  rather  to  form  the  government  to  suit  the  condition, 
character,  manners,  and  habits  of  the  people.  In  France 
this  opinion  led  him  to  take  the  monarchical  view,  firmly 
believing  that  a  republican  form  of  government  would  not 
suit  the  French  character. 

After  the  war  was  over,  Morris  retired  from  the  position 
of  Assistant  to  the  Superintendent  of  the  Finances  of  the 
United  States  and  again  betook  himself  to  the  practice 
of  the  law,  intending  to  settle  at  New  York  ;  but  various 


l6  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

ties  of  business  kept  him  in  Philadelphia  and  more  or  less 
associated  with  Robert  Morris,  sometimes  acting  as  his 
agent,  sometimes  on  his  own  account.  Together  they  de 
vised  plans  and  projects,  new  adventures  of  many  kinds 
which  promised  success  and  pecuniary  advancement.  As 
early  as  1782  Congress  had  instructed  Robert  Morris  to 
report  on  the  foreign  coin  then  circulating  in  the  United 
States.  A  letter  with  a  full  exposition  of  the  subject  was 
sent  to  Congress,  officially  signed  by  Robert  Morris,  but 
written,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  said,  by  the  Assistant  Superin 
tendent  of  Finance.  The  most  interesting  part  of  this 
report  was  a  new  plan  for  an  American  coinage,  which 
originated  with  Gouverneur  Morris,  and  which  was,  in 
fact,  the  basis  of  the  system  now  in  use.  In  1784  it  is 
worth  noting  that  Morris  became  known  to  the  French 
Ministry  through  two  letters  written  to  the  Marquis  de 
Chastellux  in  regard  to  the  commercial  relations  between 
France  and  the  United  States,  but  particularly  the  West 
India  trade.  M.  de  Chastellux  says  :  "Your  letters  have 
been  communicated  to  M.  le  Marechal  de  Castries,  Minis 
ter  of  Marine,  who  is  delighted  with  them  ;  he  told  me  that 
he  had  seen  nothing  superior  or  more  full  of  powerful 
thought  on  the  subject  of  government  and  politics." 

In  1786  his  mother,  who  had  been  an  invalid  for  several 
years,  died.  By  his  father's  will  the  estate  of  Morrisania, 
after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Morris,  devolved  upon  the  second 
son,  Staats  Long  Morris,  who  had  married  in  England 
the  Duchess  of  Gordon,  and  was  a  general  in  the  British 
army.  Lewis,  the  eldest  son,  had  received  his  portion  be 
fore  his  father's  death,  and,  under  his  father's  will  General 
Morris,  when  he  should  become  possessed  of  the  prop 
erty,  was  to  pay  a  legacy  of  ^7,000  to  the  other  children. 
Of  this  sum  ^2,000  were  to  come  to  Gouverneur.  Gen 
eral  Morris  was  quite  willing  to  part  with  Morrisania, 


1787-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  1 7 

never  intending  to  live  there,  and  Gouverneur  determined 
to  make  the  purchase.  By  the  aid  of  loans  and  accommo 
dations  he  became  possessed  of  this  estate  and  part  of  the 
general's  lands  in  New  Jersey.  Commercial  adventures, 
large  shipments  of  tobacco  to  France,  and  other  under 
takings  had  already  laid  the  foundation  of  a  fortune. 

In  1787,  as  a  delegate  from  Pennsylvania,  of  which 
State  he  was,  after  a  seven  years'  residence,  considered  a 
citizen,  Morris  took  his  seat  in  the  Convention  assem 
bled  for  the  great  task  of  framing  the  Federal  Consti 
tution.  But  here  again  he  made  no  notes,  and  left  no 
account  of  his  personal  action  in  the  Convention.  In  a 
letter  to  Colonel  Pickering,  written  two  years  before  his 
death,  he  says  :  "  While  I  sat  in  the  Convention  my  mind 
was  too  much  occupied  with  the  interests  of  our  country 
to  keep  notes  of  what  we  had  done  ;  my  faculties  were 
on  the  stretch  to  further  our  business,  remove  impedi 
ments,  obviate  objections  and  conciliate  jarring  opin 
ions."  President  Madison,  in  a  letter  to  Jared  Sparks, 
bears  testimony  to  his  endeavor  to  preserve  harmony,  and 
to  his  active  and  able  assistance  in  that  difficult  and 
momentous  work.  "  He  certainly,"  says  Madison,  "did 
not  incline  to  the  democratic  side,  but  contended  for  a 
senate  elected  for  life,"  the  suffrage  to  be  given  only  to 
freeholders,  and  property  to  be  represented.  He  vigor 
ously  opposed  slavery,  moved  to  insert  the  word  "free" 
before  "  inhabitants,"  and  denounced  the  slave  system  as 
a  "  nefarious  institution,  the  curse  of  Heaven  on  all  the 
states  in  which  it  prevails,"  boldly  asserting  that  he  never 
would  concur  in  upholding  the  institution.  In  the  same 
letter  Madison  says:  "The  finish  given  to  the  style  and 
arrangement  of  the  constitution  fairly  belongs  to  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Morris.  A  better  choice  could  not  have  been 
made,  as  the  performance  of  the  task  proved.  The  talents 


1 8  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  I. 

and  taste  of  the  author  were  stamped  on  the  face  of  it." 
Morris  speaks  in  a  manly  way  of  the  Constitution  in  a  let 
ter  to  a  gentleman  in  France  :  "You  will,  ere  this,"  said 
he,  "have  seen  the  Constitution  proposed  for  the  United 
States.  I  have  many  reasons  to  believe  that  it  was  the 
work  of  plain,  honest  men,  and  such  I  think  it  will  ap 
pear.  Faulty  it  must  be,  for  what  is  perfect  ?  Should  it 
take  effect,  the  affairs  of  this  country  will  put  on  a  much 
better  aspect  than  they  have  yet  worn,  and  America  will 
soon  be  as  much  respected  abroad  as  she  has  for  some 
time  past  been  disregarded." 

During  the  winter  of  1787  Morris  was  in  Virginia  super 
intending  the  mercantile  affairs  in  which  he  and  Robert 
Morris  were  jointly  interested.  It  was  necessary  to  have 
an  agent  on  the  spot  who  understood  the  business,  to 
manage  the  shipment  of  tobacco  to  France,  for  which 
large  contracts  had  been  taken  by  the  farmers-general. 
In  November,  1788,  Morris  determined  to  take  his  "de 
parture  from  Philadelphia  for  the  Kingdom  of  France," 
he  wrote  to  General  Washington,  who  supplied  him  with 
letters  of  introduction  to  many  persons,  giving  him  also 
several  commissions  to  execute  for  himself.  Among  them 
was  one  to  purchase  in  Paris  a  gold  watch  for  his  own 
use.  "Not  a  small,  trifling  nor  a  finical,  ornamental  one, 
but  a  watch  well  executed  in  point  of  workmanship,  large, 
flat,  and  with  a  plain,  handsome  key,"  were  the  instruc 
tions.  Morris  sailed  from  Philadelphia  in  the  ship  Hen 
rietta,  and  passed  the  Capes  of  Delaware  on  the  i8th  of 
December,  1788. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  19 


CHAPTER  II. 

Morris  Lands  at  Havre.  Goes  to  Paris.  Letter  to  the  French  minister 
in  America.  State  of  Paris.  Washington's  commission.  Letter  to 
William  Carmichael.  Society  life.  Madame  de  Chastellux's  salon 
and  others.  Paris  on  the  eve  of  the  Revolution.  Madame  de  Beau- 
harnais  at  home.  Presented  to  Montmorin.  Meets  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans.  M.  de  Malesherbes.  Letter  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne. 
Madame  de  Tesse's  Republican  salon.  Hurry  of  life  in  Paris.  Lafa 
yette's  election  in  Auvergne.  Paupers  in  Paris.  Morris's  busy  life. 
Meets  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Pleasant  days  and  evenings  with  charm 
ing  women.  Dines  with  Necker.  Madame  de  Stael.  Supper  with  the 
Baron  de  Besenval.  Interview  with  the  Marechal  de  Castries.  Visit 
to  the  statues  at  the  Louvre.  A  day  of  Misfortunes. 

ON  Tuesday,  the  2yth  of  January,  1789,  after  a  tem 
pestuous  voyage  of  forty  days,  the  Henrietta  en 
tered  the  port  of  Havre.  After  landing,  Morris  at  once 
sought  out  the  persons  who  were  engaged  with  Rob 
ert  Morris  in  the  tobacco  and  flour  contracts,  and  the 
business  he  had  undertaken  for  his  friend  was  pushed 
forward  with  all  the  energy  which  was  one  of  his  strong 
est  characteristics.  Part  of  his  work  during  the  few  days 
he  spent  at  Havre  was  investigating  the  chances  for  specu 
lation  in  wheat,  of  which  there  was,  at  the  moment,  he 
wrote,  "an  actual  scarcity  and  a  still  greater  expected." 
He  immediately  conceived  and  communicated  to  William 
Constable  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  with  whom  he  was  in  spe 
cial  partnership,  a  plan  "for  purchasing  all  the  wheat  on 
Hudson's  river,"  and  entered  into  arrangements  by  which 
it  should  reach  France  at  the  moment  of  the  greatest  de- 


20  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

mand — "  thereby  raising  the  price  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic."  By  the  3d  of  February  he  was  in  Paris,  and 
settled  at  the  Hotel  Richelieu,  Rue  de  Richelieu.  In  his 
early  letters  and  diary  he  says  nothing  whatever  of  his 
impressions  of  Paris — his  entire  attention  and  time  were 
given  to  finding  out  from  the  firms  of  Le  Normand  and 
Bourdieu  the  reason  of  their  failure  to  accept  large  con 
signments  of  tobacco  for  which  they  had  contracted,  and 
why  his  friend  should  be  placed  in  a  "  situation  unex 
ampled  for  a  man  of  his  property."  ) 

His  first  allusion  to  Paris  and  public  affairs  in  France 
is  in  a  letter  to  the  Comte  de  Moustier,*  then  in  America, 
in  which  he  speaks  of  the  cordial  reception  the  count's 
letters  had  procured  him. 

"  The  more  I  see  of  Paris,"  he  wrote,  "  the  more  sensi 
ble  I  am  of  your  sacrifice  in  leaving  it  to  traverse  a  great 
ocean,  and  establish  yourself  with  a  people  as  yet  too  new 
to  relish  that  society  which  forms  here  the  delight  of  life. 
For  devoting  thus  to  the  public  service  both  your  time 
and  enjoyments,  you  have  as  yet  been  poorly  recom 
pensed.  Your  nation  is  now  in  a  most  important  crisis, 
and  the  question,  Shall  we  have  a  constitution  or  shall 
will  continue  to  be  law  ?  employs  every  mind  and  agitates 

*Eleonor- Francois,  the  Marquis  de  Moustier,  arrived  in  America  as  minis 
ter  from  France  at  the  close  of  the  year  1787.  He  was  rich  and  close  though 
lavish  in  display,  and  showed  less  tact  in  dealing  with  Americans  than  his 
predecessors  had  done,  and  was  consequently  less  liked.  His  sister,  Madame 
de  Brehan,  with  her  son,  accompanied  him  to  this  country.  A  letter  from 
John  Armstrong  to  General  Gates  says  of  Moustier:  "We  have  a  French 
minister  here  with  us,  and  if  France  had  wished  to  destroy  the  little  remem 
brance  that  is  left  of  her,  and  her  exertions  in  our  behalf,  she  would  have 
sent  just  such  a  minister.  Distant,  haughty,  punctilious,  and  entirely  gov 
erned  by  the  caprices  of  a  little  singular,  whimsical,  hysterical  old  woman 
whose  delight  is  in  playing  with  a  negro  child  and  caressing  a  monkey."  M. 
de  Moustier  illuminated  his  house  (in  Broadway,  near  the  Bowling  Green) 
splendidly  in  honor  of  Washington's  inauguration,  and  gave  a  grand  ball  to 
the  President  and  his  suite. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  21 

every  heart  in  France.  Even  voluptuousness  itself  arises 
from  its  couch  of  roses  and  looks  anxiously  abroad,  at  the 
busy  scene  to  which  nothing  can  now  be  indifferent. 
Your  nobles,  your  clergy,  your  people,  are  all  in  motion 
for  the  elections.  A  spirit  which  has  lain  dormant  for 
generations  starts  up  and  stares  about  ignorant  of  the 
means  of  obtaining,  but  ardently  desirous  to  possess  the 
object,  consequently  active,  energetic,  easily  led,  but,  alas, 
easily,  too  easily,  misled.  Such  is  the  instinctive  love 
of  freedom  which  now  boils  in  the  bosom  of  your  coun 
try,  that  respect  for  his  sovereign,  which  forms  the  dis 
tinctive  mark  of  a  Frenchman,  stimulates  and  fortifies 
on  the  present  occasion  those  sentiments  which  have 
hitherto  been  deemed  most  hostile  to  monarchy.  For 
Louis  the  Sixteenth  has  himself  proclaimed  from  the 
throne,  a  wish  that  every  barrier  should  be  thrown  down 
which  time  or  accident  may  have  opposed  to  the  general 
felicity  of  his  people.  It  would  be  presumptuous  in  me 
even  to  guess  at  the  effect  of  such  causes,  operating  on 
materials  and  institutions  of  which  I  confess  to  you  the 
most  profound  ignorance. 

"  I  feel  that  I  have  already  gone  too  far  in  attempting 
to  describe  what  I  think  I  have  perceived.  But  before  I 
quit  the  subject  I  must  express  the  wish,  the  ardent  wish, 
that  this  great  ferment  may  terminate  not  only  to  the 
good  but  to  the  glory  of  France.  On  the  scenes  which 
her  great  theatre  now  displays,  the  eyes  of  the  universe 
are  fixed  with  anxiety.  The  national  honor  is  deeply 
interested  in  a  successful  issue.  Indulge  me  also,  I  pray, 
in  conveying  the  opinion  that  until  that  issue  is  known, 
every  arrangement  both  foreign  and  domestic  must  feel  a 
panic.  Horace  tells  us  that  in  crossing  the  sea  we  change 
our  climate  not  our  souls.  I  can  say  what  he  could  not ; 
that  I  find  on  this  side  the  Atlantic  a  strong  resemblance 


22  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

to  what  I  left  on  the  other — a  nation  which  exists  in 
hopes,  prospects,  and  expectations — the  reverence  for 
ancient  establishments  gone,  existing  forms  shaken  to 
the  foundation,  and  a  new  order  of  things  about  to  take 
place,  in  which,  perhaps  even  to  the  very  names,  all  for 
mer  institutions  will  be  disregarded. 

"To  judge  of  the  present  turmoil  I  can  give  you  no 
better  standard  than  by  telling  you,  what  is  seriously  true, 
that  when  I  took  up  the  pen  it  was  to  give  you  news  of 
your  friends,  and  to  describe  the  impression  made  on  my 
mind  by  the  objects  which  necessarily  present  themselves 
in  this  great  capital,  I  will  not  say  of  France,  but  of 
Europe.  And  have  I  done  it  ?  Yes,  for  the  one  great 
object  in  which  all  are  engaged  has  swallowed  up,  like  the 
rod  of  Aaron  in  Egypt,  every  other  enchantment  by  which 
France  was  fascinated." 

It  must  have  been  a  curious  and  melancholy  spectacle 
which  Paris  presented  to  a  thoughtful  man  and  a  for 
eigner  ;  one,  too,  just  from  a  society  very  new  and  decid 
edly  affected  by  the  Quaker  element.  The  convulsion 
which  was  already  shaking  society  to  its  foundation  every 
where  disturbed  the  atmosphere.  Intrigues,  social  and 
political,  were  rife  ;  the  Court  was  sinking  in  a  quicksand 
of  pleasure.  The  king  struggled,  in  a  feeble  way,  to  raise 
the  moral  standard,  but  not  to  any  extent  could  he  purify 
the  Court,  and  only  for  the  moment  could  he  pacify  the 
indignant  and  starving  multitude  who  clamored  outside 
the  palace-gates.  Fatigued  with  pleasure,  bored  with  ev 
erything,  the  young  men  recklessly  accumulated  debts, 
solely,  it  would  seem,  in  the  hope  of  amusing  themselves. 
But  Paris  was  gay,  full  of  men  and  things  to  interest  and 
amuse.  Philosophers,  patriots,  men  of  letters,  rioters, 
beautiful  women,  clever  and  witty,  leaders  of  society  and 
politics,  were  all  there.  Everything,  nearly,  could  be  found 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  23 

in  Paris,  "but  scavengers  and  lamps,"  as  Arthur  Young 
said.  The  streets  were  narrow  and  without  foot-pave 
ments  ;  they  were  dirty  and  crowded.  "To  walk  through 
them  was  toil  and  fatigue  to  a  man  and  an  impossibility 
to  a  well-dressed  woman,"  says  Young  again.  One-horse 
cabriolets  abounded,  driven  recklessly  by  young  men  of 
fashion,  endangering  life  and  limb.  Persons  of  moderate 
means,  unable  to  own  carriages,  were  forced  by  the  mud 
and  filth  to  dress  in  black,  with  black  stockings.  This  cir 
cumstance  alone  marked  strongly  the  line  between  the 
man  of  fortune  and  the  man  without.  Public  opinion  had 
somewhat  modified  the  dress  of  the  ladies,  and  the  enor 
mously  high  structure  which  had  been  supposed  to  adorn 
the  female  head  during  the  Regency  changed,  in  1780,  to 
a  low  coiffure,  started  by  the  queen,  and  called  the  "coif 
fure  a  1'enfant."  Four  years  later  the  chapeau  "  a  la  caisse 
d'escompte,  chapeau  sans  fond  comme  cette  caisse,"  *  came 
into  fashion.  Having  lost  the  elevated  head-dress,  than 
which  nothing  could  be  more  grotesque,  the  dress-makers 
proceeded  to  deform  nature  in  another  way,  and  the  enor 
mous  poches  came  into  vogue  which  made  a  woman  look 
like  a  "  Hottentot  Venus  "f  destroying  nature's  form. 
Extremely  high  heels,  much  rouge,  and  many  mouches 
were  supposed  to  heighten  their  beauty.  The  men,  sword 
at  the  side,  hat  under  the  arm,  with  very  trim,  high-heel 
shoes,  braided  or  embroidered  coats,  powdered  hair  caught 
together  at  the  back  in  a  small  bag,  called  a  bourse,  and 
with  two  watch-chains,  on  the  ends  of  which  hung  a  vast 
number  of  charms,  or  breloques,  were  to  be  seen  in  the 
street  carrying  themselves  with  much  stiffness  and  pride. 
This  bearing,  however,  changed  speedily  on  entering  the 
antechamber.  "A  marvellous  suppleness  attacked  their 
backs,  a  complacent  smile  succeeded  the  severe  one,  their 

*  Dulaure  :  Histoire  de  Paris.  t  Ibid. 


24  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

conversation  was  full  of  adulation  and  baseness."  *  By 
the  year  1791  the  seriousness,  not  to  say  the  terrors  of  the 
Revolution,  had  eradicated  much  of  this  nonsense ;  etiquette 
and  ceremonial  lost  their  power  ;  the  women  abandoned 
high  heels  and  powder,  and  the  men  put  their  hats  on 
their  heads,  gave  up  powder,  wore  their  hair  naturally, 
and  only  carried  swords  in  defence  of  their  country.  Even 
the  form  of  ending  a  letter  changed,  with  the  levelling  in 
fluence  of  the  times,  from  the  very  adulatory  and  elaborate 
method  to  simple  "  salutations  amicales  "  or  "assurances 
d'estime  ; "  "le  respect"  was  reserved  for  women  of  high 
position  and  old  people,  f 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  mincing  fine  gentleman,  pick 
ing  his  way  through  the  mire  and  filth  of  the  streets,  was 
the  pauper  element.  This  was  enormously  represented — 
a  stormy,  riotous  mob,  ready  for  anything,  and  employing 
their  time  begging  and  singing  rhymes  in  honor  of  the  third 
estate.  From  the  Palais  Royal  newspapers  advocating 
the  rights  of  the  third  party  literally  flowed,  and  found  a 
large  reading-public  ready  to  receive  them.  In  the  month 
of  June  pamphlets  were  in  all  hands  ;  "  even  lackeys  are 
poring  over  them  at  the  gates  of  hotels." J  "A  little 
later,  every  hour  produced  something  new.  Thirteen  came 
out  to-day,  sixteen  yesterday,  arid  ninety  last  week."  § 

These  tracts  were  spread  through  the  provinces  :  and 
nearly  all  of  them,  teeming  with  levelling  and  seditious 
principles,  advocated  liberty,  and  violence  against  the 
nobles  and  clergy.  Only  two  or  three  pamphlets  on  the 
other  side  had  merit  enough  to  be  known. 

As  early  as  February,  1789,  Necker  avowed  that  "  obedi 
ence  is  not  to  be  found  anywhere,  and  that  even  the  troops 
are  not  to  be  relied  on."  This  state  of  things  in  Paris 

*  Dulaure  :  Histoire  de  Paris.  t  Ibid. 

t  Ibid.  §  Arthur  Young. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  25 

ushered  in  the  meeting  of  the  States-General,  called,  after 
the  lapse  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  years,  to  work  seem 
ingly  impossible  reforms,  and  to  frame  a  constitution 
under  which  France  should  be  free  and  happy. 

The  commission  with  which  General  Washington  had 
intrusted  Morris  was  his  first  care,  and  he  at  once  ap 
plied  for  information  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  then  American 
Minister  at  Versailles  ;  and  in  a  letter  to  Washington  he 
tells  him  this,  and  that  the  man  who  had  made  Madison's 
watch  was  a  rogue,  and  recommended  him  to  another, 
namely,  Romilly.  "But  as  it  might  happen  that  this  also 
was  a  rogue,  I  inquired  at  a  very  honest  man's  shop,  not  a 
watchmaker,  and  he  recommended  Gregson.  A  gentleman 
with  me  assured  me  that  Gregson  was  a  rogue,  and  both 
of  them  agreed  that  Romilly  is  of  the  old  school,  and  he 
and  his  watches  out  of  fashion.  And  to  say  that  of  a  man 
in  Paris  is  like  saying  he  is  an  ordinary  man  among  the 
Friends  of  Philadelphia.  I  found  at  last  that  M.  L'Epine 
is  at  the  head  of  his  profession  here,  and,  in  consequence, 
asks  more  for  his  work  than  anybody  else.  I  therefore 
waited  on  M.  L'Epine  and  agreed  with  him  for  two  watches 
exactly  alike,  one  of  which  will  be  for  you  and  the  other 
for  me." 

Turning  to  public  affairs,  he  continues  :  "  Our  new  Con 
stitution  has  greatly  raised  our  reputation  in  Europe, 
but  your  appointment  and  acceptance  would  go  far  to  fix 
the  general  opinion  of  the  fact.  By  the  bye,  in  the  mel 
ancholy  situation  to  which  the  poor  King  of  England  has 
been  reduced,  there  were,  I  am  told,  (in  relation  to  you) 
some  whimsical  circumstances.  His  first  outset  was  to 
seize  Mr.  Pitt  by  the  collar  and  with  outrageous  language 
addressed  to  the  Rebel  General,  had  nearly  strangled  him 
before  he  could  get  help.  Afterwards  the  Defender  of  the 
Faith,  in  one  of  his  caprices,  conceived  himself  to  be  no 


26  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

less  a  personage  than  George  Washington  at  the  head  of 
the  American  Army.  This  shows  that  you  have  done  some 
thing  or  other  which  sticks  most  terribly  in  his  stomach. 
And  the  Prince  of  Wales  I  am  told  intends,  (no  doubt  from 
filial  piety  and  respect)  to  be  very  good  friends  with  the 
country  and  the  man  who  have  turned  his  father's  head." 
His  next  letter  was  addressed  to  Mr.  Carmichael,  the 
American  minister  at  Madrid  and  an  old  friend.  He  ex 
presses  his  attachment  to  him  and  desire  to  fly  to  him, 
if  he  were  not  restrained  by  important  objects,  to  be  at 
tended  to  at  once.  He  says  :  "  You  intimate  a  desire  to 
know  my  situation  and  intentions.  For  the  former  it  is 
simply  this  :  by  acquiring  property  I  have  placed  myself 
in  the  common  situation  of  desiring  more, — but  with  the 
same  frankness  with  which  I  avow  that  desire,  let  me  as 
sure  you  that  the  thirst  for  riches  has  never  yet  vitiated 
my  palate.  I  wish  not  to  accumulate,  but  to  enjoy.  And 
age  has  pointed  out  a  different  path  towards  enjoyment 
from  that  which  delighted  my  youthful  footsteps.  In  a 
word,  I  wrish  to  possess  what  I  possess  in  peace,  and  for  that 
purpose  I  want  lively  property.  Various  means  are  before 
me.  You  speak  of  becoming  an  American  farmer,  in  the 
last  result  and  as  a  last  resource.  I  have  ever  viewed  it  as 
my  great  desideratum.  But  let  it  for  both  of  us  be  otium  cum 
dignitate.  And  to  this  end  it  is  essential  to  possess  a  moder 
ate  share  of  fortune's  favors.  As  soon  as  I  can  I  shall  pro 
ceed  to  Holland.  But  I  contemplate  a  return  to  this  capi 
tal  as  speedily  as  possible,  and  from  hence  I  wish  to  go  to 
Madrid.  You  will  calculate,  however,  that  as  the  most  im 
portant  scene  enacted  for  many  years  on  the  European  the 
atre,  will  in  the  next  months  be  displayed  at  this  place, 
I,  in  common  with  all  others,  have  curiosity  to  see  it. 
You  must  also  consider  that  I  have  motives  stronger  than 
curiosity,  for  until  the  States-General  shall  have  decided 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  2/ 

on  the  important  objects  for  which  they  are  convened,  this 
government  can  take  no  solid  arrangement  for  anything. 
Lafayette  is  out  of  town.  He  is  gone  to  Auvergne  to  get 
himself  elected  either  for  the  Noblesse  or  the  Tiers  Etat. 
I  hope  the  former,  for  he  would  otherwise  (in  my  opinion) 
be  too  desperately  estranged  from  his  own  class.  As  he 
did  not  communicate  to  me  his  hesitation,  I  presume  that 
he  had  determined,  for  he  made  some  important  communi 
cations  just  before  his  departure.  Apropos — a  term  which 
my  Lord  Chesterfield  well  observes  all  generally  use  to 
bring  in  what  is  not  at  all  to  the  purpose — apropos,  then, 
I  have  here  the  strangest  employment  imaginable.  A  re 
publican,  and  just,  as  it  were,  emerged  from  that  assem 
bly  which  has  formed  one  of  the  most  republican  of  all 
republican  constitutions,  I  preach  incessantly  respect  for 
the  Prince,  attention  to  the  rights  of  the  nobility,  and  mod 
eration,  not  only  in  the  object  but  also  in  the  pursuit  of  it. 
All  this,  you  will  say,  is  none  of  my  business,  but  I  con 
sider  France  as  the  natural  ally  of  my  country — and  of 
course  that  we  are  interested  in  her  prosperity.  Besides, 
(to  say  the  truth)  I  love  France,  and  as  I  believe  the  King 
to  be  an  honest  and  good  man  I  sincerely  wish  him  well — 
and  the  more  so  as  I  am  persuaded  that  he  earnestly  de 
sires  the  felicity  of  his  people." 

Letters  to  prominent  people  gave  Morris  at  once  an  en 
tree  into  the  different  sets  of  society,  and  invitations  to 
breakfasts,  dinners,  and  suppers  were  not  wanting.  On 
one  occasion  only  he  mentioned  not  being  perfectly  mas 
ter  of  French,  which  he  had  not  spoken  since  his  school 
days,  but  it  was  not  long  before  he  acquired  an  uncommon 
facility  both  in  writing  and  speaking  it.  One  day  which 
he  mentions  seems  more  than  full.  It  began  with  a 
breakfast  at  M.  le  Normand's,  where  they  discussed  the 
tobacco  subject,  so  deeply  interesting  to  the  speculator 


28  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

as  well  as  the  smoker.  The  same  day  he  dined  with 
Madame  Dumolley,  who  included  in  her  society  the  ex 
tremely  noisy  element,  the  men  who  came  on  foot,  and  with 
out  the  adornments  of  dress.  Her  Monday  entertainments, 
and  small  intrigues  were  to  her  the  sole  end  and  aim  of  the 
week  ;  she  lived  for  them,  and  the  guests  who  were  the 
special  favorites  of  the  moment.  Madame  Dumolley  had 
a  pleasant  face  and  an  agreeable  varnish  of  politeness  ;  and 
this,  added  to  the  fact  that  she  never  failed  to  include  a 
more  or  less  vigorous  love-making  episode  in  her  pur 
suit  after  happiness,  rendered  her  salon  attractive.  She 
evidently  exhibited  a  taste  for  horticulture,  for  Morris 
promised  to  send  to  America  for  seeds  and  plants  for  her. 
Later  in  the  evening,  after  the  play,  a  supper  was  to  be  par 
taken  of  with  Madame  de  la  Caze,  at  whose  house  he  met  a 
large  party,  absorbed  in  quinze.  Here,  he  says  :  "M.  de 
Bersheni,  for  want  of  something  else  to  do,  asks  me  many 
questions  about  America,  in  a  manner  which  shows  he 
cares  little  for  the  information.  By  way  of  giving  him 
some  adequate  idea  of  our  people,  when  he  mentioned  the 
necessity  of  fleets  and  armies  to  secure  us  against  inva 
sion,  I  tell  him  that  nothing  would  be  more  difficult  than 
to  subdue  a  nation  every  individual  of  which,  in  the  pride 
of  freedom,  thinks  himself  a  king.  '  And  if,  sir,  you  should 
look  down  on  him,  would  say,  "  I  am  a  man.  Are  you  any 
thing  more  ?  "  l  All  this  is  very  well  ;  but  there  must  be  a 
difference  of  ranks,  and  I  should  say  to  one  of  these  peo 
ple,  "  You,  sir,  who  are  equal  to  a  king,  make  me  a  pair  of 
shoes."  '  '  Our  citizens,  sir,  have  a  manner  of  thinking 
peculiar  to  themselves.  This  shoemaker  would  reply, 
"  Sir,  I  am  very  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  make  you  a 
pair  of  shoes.  It  is  my  duty  to  make  shoes.  I  love  to  do 
my  duty." '  This  manner  of  thinking  and  speaking,  how 
ever,  is  too  masculine  for  the  climate  I  am  in." 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  29 

Most  of  the  mornings  were  passed  in  receiving  visits  and 
writing — not  only  keeping  up  a  correspondence,  daily  ac 
cumulating,  but  in  copying  all  his  own  letters  into  books 
and  generally  sending  duplicates  of  them  to  America  be 
sides.  A  letter  to  Robert  Morris  (March  2d)  requested 
him  to  send  Madame  Dumolley's  seeds,  and  begged  his  at 
tention  to  another  object,  which  was  to  "  obtain  forme  an 
account  of  the  American  tonnage — that  is,  the  number  of 
tons  of  the  vessels  of  U.  S.  I  want  this  for  the  Marechal 
de  Castries.  This  nobleman  was  so  kind  as  to  seek  an 
acquaintance  with  me  in  consequence  of  some  letters  I 
had  written  to  the  late  Marquis  de  Chastellux  and  which  he 
had  translated  and  shown  to  several  persons.  The  last  of 
these  letters  occupied  him  in  the  illness  which  proved 
fatal,  about  three  months  ago.  I  forget  the  contents  but 
in  my  rash  manner  I  had,  it  seems,  given  opinions  about 
the  situation  and  affairs  of  this  country  which  (luckily) 
proved  to  be  just.  Shortly  after  my  arrival  here  I  received 
a  message  from  Madame  de  Chastellux  desiring  a  visit  to 
the  wife  of  my  late  friend,  and  speedily,  as  she  was  on  the 
point  of  lying  in.  I  waited  upon  her,  and  two  days  after 
received  an  intimation  from  M.  de  Castries  that  as  he  was 
already  acquainted  with  me  through  the  letters  above 
mentioned  he  wished  for  an  interview,  etc.  In  conse 
quence  I  waited  on  him.  He  has  since  asked  me  to  din 
ner,  and  promised  to  present  me  to  M.  Necker,  to  whom  I 
have  not  yet  delivered  your  letter.  It  is  thought  that  M. 
de  Castries  will  again  be  made  Minister  of  the  Marine. 
He  both  expects  and  wishes  for  it,  and  he  is  an  intimate 
friend  of  M.  Necker  who,  as  I  have  already  told  you, 
holds  fast  to  the  farmers-general.  But  what  is  of  more 
consequence  in  my  eyes  than  situation  or  connection,  they 
are  men  of  honor  and  rectitude." 

The  Marechal  de  Chastellux  served  under  Rochambeau 


3<D  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

in  the  War  for  American  Independence,  in  1780.  Madame 
de  Chastellux,  an  extremely  charming  and  accomplished 
Irishwoman,  lady  in  waiting  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  * 
and  her  confidential  friend  and  companion,  drew  round  her 
those  immediately  connected  with  the  Court.  It  was  in 
her  salon,  very  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Paris,  that  Mor 
ris  met  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  the  beautiful  and  charming 
daughter  of  the  Due  de  Penthievre,  whose  love-marriage 
with  the  Due  de  Chartres,  who  became  the  Due  d'Orleans 
and,  later,  the  notorious  Philippe  Egalite,  had  been  hap 
py  until  about  this  time,  when  the  duke's  irregularities 
rendered  her  life  sad  and  uncertain.  With  her  Morris 
formed  a  sincere  and  lasting  friendship.  Here  also  he 
met  the  Comtesse  de  Segur,  who  told  him  at  the  first  meet 
ing  that  she  was  afraid  that  he  "  might  not  arrive  before 
she  left  the  room."  Among  the  six  or  seven  grand  salons 
of  Paris,  that  of  Madame  de  Segur  mtre,  the  natural  daugh 
ter  of  the  Regent,  had  for  years  occupied  a  conspicuous 
place  ;  and  she,  notwithstanding  her  age,  retained  all 
her  vivacity,  charming  young  and  old  alike  with  her 
memories  and  tales  of  the  Regent's  time  and  of  her  own 
eventful  life.  Her  daughter-in-law,  the  Marechale  de  Segur, 
who  always  aided  her  in  doing  the  honors,  added  to  the 
attraction  of  the  salon  by  her  gentle  grace  and  charming 
manner.  With  these  queens  of  the  salon  to  instruct  him, 
it  was  not  long  before  Morris,  being  an  apt  scholar, 
found  himself  fully  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  coquetry  ; 
for  these  seductive  court  ladies  never  feared  to  follow 
their  flattering  words  with  the  "look,  manner,  and  tone 
of  voice  perfectly  in  unison  with  the  sentiment."  But 
Morris  was  wary  of  such  flatteries,  though  admitting  that 

*  The  Duchess  of  Orleans,  wife  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  cousin  to  Louis 
XVI.,  daughter  of  the  Due  de  Penthievre  and  sister-in-law  of  the  unfortu 
nate  Princesse  de  Lamballe. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  31 

"a  pleasing  error  might  be  preferable  to  a  disagree 
able  truth."  In  March  he  wrote  to  Washington,  and 
expressed  his  unbounded  surprise  at  "  the  astonishing 
spectacle"  which,  he  said,  "this  country  presents  to  one 
who  has  collected  his  ideas  from  books  and  information 
half  a  dozen  years  old.  Everything  is  a  ranglaise,  and  the 
desire  to  imitate  the  English  prevails  alike  in  the  cut  of  a 
coat,  and  the  form  of  a  constitution.  Like  the  English, 
too,  all  are  engaged  in  parliamenteering,  and  when  we  con 
sider  how  novel  this  last  business  must  be,  I  assure  you 
their  progress  is  far  from  contemptible." 

On  Tuesday  (March  3d),  the  salon  of  Madame  la  Com- 
tesse  de  Beauharnais  was  opened  to  him,  by  an  invitation 
of  a  week's  standing,  to  dine  at  three  o'clock.  Setting  off 
in  great  haste,  to  be  punctual,  and  arriving  at  a  quarter 
past  the  hour,  he  found  in  the  drawing-room  "  some  dirty 
linen  and  no  fire."  While  the  waiting-woman  takes  away 
one,  a  valet  lights  up  the  other.  Three  small  sticks  in  a 
deep  heap  of  ashes  give  no  great  expectation  of  heat.  By 
the  smoke,  however,  all  doubts  are  removed  respecting 
the  existence  of  fire.  To  expel  the  smoke  a  window  is 
opened,  and  the  day  being  cold  I  have  the  benefit  of  as 
fresh  air  as  can  reasonably  be  expected  in  so  large  a  city. 
Towards  4  o'clock  the  guests  begin  to  assemble,  and  I  be 
gin  to  suspect  that  as  madame  is  a  poetess,  I  shall  have 
the  honor  to  dine  with  that  excellent  part  of  the  species 
who  devote  themselves  to  the  Muses.  In  effect,  the 
gentlemen  begin  to  compliment  their  respective  works, 
and  as  regular  hours  cannot  be  expected  in  a  house 
where  the  mistress  is  occupied  more  with  the  intellect 
ual  than  the  material  world,  I  have  the  delightful  pros 
pect  of  a  continuance  of  the  scene.  Towards  five,  ma- 
dame  steps  in  to  announce  dinner,  and  the  hungry  poets 
advance  to  the  charge.  As  they  bring  good  appetites 


32  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

they  have  certainly  reason  to  praise  the  feast,  and  I 
console  myself  in  the  persuasion  that  for  this  day  at 
least  I  shall  escape  indigestion.  A  very  narrow  escape, 
too,  for  some  rancid  butter  of  which  the  cook  had  been 
very  liberal,  puts  me  in  bodily  fear.  If  the  repast  is  not 
abundant  we  have  at  least  the  consolation  that  there  is  no 
lack  of  conversation.  Not  being  perfectly  master  of  the 
language,  most  of  the  jests  escape  me  ;  as  for  the  rest  of 
the  company,  each  being  employed  either  in  saying  a  good 
thing,  or  studying  one  to  say,  'tis  no  wonder  if  he  cannot 
find  time  to  explain  that  of  his  neighbor.  They  all  agree 
that  we  live  in  an  age  alike  deficient  in  justice  and  in  taste. 
Each  finds  in  the  fate  of  his  own  works  numerous  instances 
to  justify  the  censure.  They  tell  me,  to  my  great  surprise, 
that  the  public  now  condemn  theatrical  compositions  be 
fore  they  have  heard  the  first  recitals,  and  to  remove  my 
doubts,  the  comtesse  is  so  kind  as  to  assure  me  that  this 
rash  decision  has  been  made  on  one  of  her  own  pieces. 
In  pitying  modern  degeneracy,  we  rise  from  the  table.  I 
take  my  leave  immediately  after  the  coffee,  which  by  no 
means  dishonors  the  precedent  repast,  and  madame  in 
forms  me  that  on  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  she  is  always 
at  home,  and  will  always  be  glad  to  see  me.  While  I 
stammer  out  some  return  to  the  compliment,  my  heart, 
convinced  of  my  unworthiness  to  partake  of  such  Attic 
entertainment,  makes  me  promise  never  again  to  occupy 
the  place,  from  which,  perhaps,  I  had  excluded  a  worthier 
personage." 

On  the  5th  of  March  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Morris  went 
together  to  Versailles,  the  latter  to  be  presented  to  the 
Comte  de  Montmorin,*  then  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs, 

*  Saint  Herene  de  Montmorin  became  Minister  of  the  Interior  in  1791. 
He  was  condemned  by  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  and  executed  in  Sep 
tember,  1792. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  33 

and  to  deliver  his  letters  to  him.  He  found  him  civil,  but 
in  a  polite  way  he  rather  intimated  that  "  he  had  already 
more  trouble  than  he  desires  with  strangers.  Thence  to 
the  Comte  de  Caluzem,  who  receives  me  with  a  degree  of 
hauteur  I  never  before  experienced.  On  reading  my  let 
ters  of  introduction  from  his  brother  the  Marquis,  his 
features  and  manner  are  at  once  softened  into  affability, 
and  the  gout  in  one  foot  takes  the  blame  of  the  prece 
dent  looks,  which  I  believe  had  produced  something  cor 
respondent  in  my  features.  I  render  the  visit  as  short  as 
possible,  and  wait  on  the  Comte  d'Angivilliers,  whose 
politeness  compensates  in  a  great  degree  for  the  ministe 
rial  atmosphere  I  have  just  now  breathed.  In  spite  of  pre 
determination,  my  visit  is  too  long,  and  thus  by  being 
troublesome  I  pay  a  compliment,  whose  value  he  cannot 
be  sensible  of.  This  visit,  short  as  it  is,  and  the  first  I 
ever  made  to  a  court,  has  convinced  me  that  I  am  not 
formed  to  succeed  there.  Return  to  Paris  and  dine  with 
Madame  de  Tesse — republicans  of  the  first  feather.  The 
countess,  who  is  a  very  sensible  woman,  has  formed  her 
ideas  of  government  in  a  manner  not  suited,  I  think,  either 
to  the  situation,  the  circumstances,  or  the  disposition  of 
France,  and  there  are  many  such." 

The  evening  of  this  rather  eventful  day  was  passed  in 
the  salon  of  Madame  de  Chastellux,  where  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  was  also  whiling  away  an  hour.  "Madame  de 
Chastellux  presents  me  to  her  Highness,  informing  me  that 
she  had  the  goodness  to  permit  of  my  reception.  In  the 
course  of  the  visit,  her  Royal  Highness  has  the  conde 
scension  to  speak  to  one  who  is  only  a  human  being.  My 
morning's  course  has  taught  me  the  value  of  a  few  words 
uttered  in  a  gentle  tone  from  such  a  character." 

The  reckless  driving  in  the  streets  of  Paris — a  peculiar 
ity  remarked  to-day  by  visitors  to  the  French  capital — 
3 


34  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

Morris  rather  humorously  ridicules  in  the  following  lines, 
entitled  "  Paris  :  " 

"  A  coachman  driving  furious  on, 
For  here,  to  fly  is  quite  the  ton, 
Thro'  the  thick  vapors  of  the  night, 
Sees  by  a  glimmering  lamp's  dim  light, 
Some  creature  stniggling  in  the  street, 
Which  soon  beneath  his  horses  feet 
Is  trod,  and  there  in  anguish  feels 
The  crushing  of  the  chariot  wheels. 
'  Villain  !  '  exclaims  the  aged  count, 
'  Stop  !  ho  !  the  guard  ;  bougez,  dismount. 
The  law,  pardieu,  shall  have  its  course.' 
(Au  Commits  air  e?)    '  He  has  killed  my  horse.' 
'  Seigneur,'  replies  the  poor  cocher, 
'  Moi,  humbly  I  your  pardon  pray. 
Had  I  supposed  a  horse  lay  there 
I  would  have  taken  better  care. 
But  by  St.  Jacques  declare  I  can 
I  thought  'twas  nothing  but  a  mau  /  '  " 

A  dinner  was  given  to  Morris  on  the  7th  of  March  by 
the  Baron  de  Montvoissieu  "  at  the  request  of  M.  de  Males- 
herbes,*  who  is  there — a  pleasant,  respectable  old  man, 
whose  daughter,  Madame  de  Montvoissieu,  has  five  fine 
children.  It  has  the  effect  of  rendering  her  happy.  At 
least  she  has  more  the  appearance  than  any  other  woman  I 
have  seen  here.  M.  1'Eveque  d'Arras  tells  me  our  new 
Constitution  is  the  best  that  has  ever  yet  been  found, 
but  has  some  faults  which  arise  from  our  imitation  of  the 
English." 

M.  de  Malesherbes  quite  captivated  Morris,  who  spoke 
enthusiastically  of  him  in  a  letter  to  the  Marquis  de 

*  Chretien  Guillaume  de  Lamoignon  de  Malesherbes,  a  judge,  philanthro 
pist,  and  man  of  letters.  In  1775  appointed  Minister  of  the  King's  Household 
and  of  the  Police  ;  resigned  in  1776.  In  1792,  when  the  king  was  arraigned  by 
the  Convention,  Malesherbes  offered  his  services,  which  were  accepted,  but  his 
act  was  resented  by  the  Terrorists,  and  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  guillotine. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  35 

la  Luzerne,  then  ambassador  at  London.  "  I  am  in 
love,"  he  wrote,  "  with  one  of  your  family,  and  this  is 
not  singular,  for  everyone  else  has  the  same  passion, 
though  not  perhaps  in  so  great  a  degree.  I  am  sure  you 
will  not  accuse  me  of  want  of  taste,  when  I  tell  you  that 
the  person  in  question  is  M.  de  Malesherbes.  He  has  so 
much  goodness  and  so  much  serenity  that  it  is  impossible 
not  to  feel  a  very  sincere  affection  for  him.  I  must  tell 
you  how  glad  I  should  have  been  to  have  met  you  here, 
where  there  are  a  thousand  things  in  which  a  stranger  has 
need  of  advice,  but  although  I  much  regret  your  absence, 
yet  I  have  too  much  affection  for  you  to  wish  you  here. 
France  seems  to  be  in  a  situation  which,  terminate  as  it 
may  with  respect  to  public  affairs,  cannot  fail  eventually 
to  produce  dissensions  in  private  circles.  .  .  .  Stay 
where  you  are  a  little  while,  and  when  you  come  back  you 
will  hardly  know  your  country.  As  yet  the  spectacles 
hold  some  share  in  the  conversation,  but  I  hear  as  much 
politics  among  the  ladies  of  Paris  as  ever  you  did  among 
those  of  Philadelphia.  Republicanism  is  absolutely  a 
moral  influenza,  from  which  neither  titles,  places,  nor  even 
the  diadem  can  guard  their  possessor.  If  when  the  States- 
General  assemble  their  debates  should  be  published,  the 
Lord  preserve  us  from  a  hot  summer." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  the  American  minister,  was  just  on  the 
eve  of  departure  for  America,  and  no  one  had  as  yet  been 
appointed  in  his  place.  "The  Comte  de  Puisignieu," 
Morris  says,  "  tells  me  that  I  must  stay  in  France  to  fill 
Jefferson's  place,  by  which  I  understand  a  wish  to  discover 
if  I  have  any  views  and  expectations.  I  assure  him  with 
great  truth  that  I  have  no  desire  to  be  in  that  place  even 
if  it  were  vacant."  It  was  not  long  after  the  evening 
spent  in  Madame  de  Tesse's  republican  salon  that  Morris 
was  told  by  Madame  de  Lafayette  that  she  considered  him 


36  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

an  aristocrat,  and  in  consequence  of  his  conversation  with 
Madame  de  Tesse — that  enthusiast  who  had  worked  for 
years  to  make  a  constitution  for  France,  and  was  ready  to 
shed  her  last  drop  of  blood  if  perchance  she  might  see  it 
accepted  ;  and  it  was  doubtless  not  a  little  surprising  to 
Morris  to  discover  that  "  his  ideas  were  too  moderate  for 
that  company." 

Another  surprise  seems  to  have  been  the  cold,  uncom 
fortable  weather  which  he  found,  instead  of  the  "  smiling 
European  spring  about  which,"  he  says,  "so  much  has 
been  said  and  sung."  "To-day  the  face  of  the  country  is 
that  of  January,  all  white,"  he  mentions  in  his  diary,  "  and 
from  present  appearances  one  would  hardly  expect  the 
genial  spring  ever  to  come." 

The  hurry  of  life  in  Paris  evidently  troubled  him,  for  in 
a  letter  to  his  brother  (March  nth)  he  says  : 

"  I  have  one  great  objection  to  Paris,  which  is  that  I 
have  not  a  moment's  time.  The  amusements  I  cannot 
partake  of  because  my  business  in  the  morning  and  my 
engagements  till  midnight  keep  me  in  a  perpetual  hurry. 
I  have  seen  enough  to  convince  me  that  a  man  might  in 
this  city  be  incessantly  employed  for  forty  years  and  grow 
old  without  knowing  what  he  had  been  about.  This  is  a 
charming  circumstance  for  those  who,  having  nothing  to 
do,  would  otherwise  be  obliged  to  study  how  best  to  kill 
old  time,  and  who  waste  their  hours  in  constant  complaints 
that  the  days  of  man  are  short  and  few." 

During  the  spring  the  affairs  of  a  certain  Mr.  Nesbitt, 
who  seemed  to  be  in  a  chronic  state  of  hiding  from 
his  creditors,  gave  Morris  more  or  less  trouble,  and  no 
small  share  of  amusement,  owing  to  various  contretemps, 
while  seeking  the  presence  of  certain  ministers  "  with 
whom,"  he  said,  "  I  am  utterly  unacquainted."  One  en 
counter  he  particularly  mentioned,  where  he  was  to  go  to 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  37 

Versailles  and  call  upon  M.  DeVille  Delville,  and  where 
"  I  am  to  make  the  modest  request  that  he  will  grant  me 
the  favor  to  stop  the  usual  course  of  law  and  justice." 

A  letter  from  Count  Dillon*  was  to  open  the  way  to  an 
interview  with  the  Minister.  But  it  is  best  to  let  Mor 
ns  tell  his  own  experience  of  approaching  so  high  a  per 
sonage.  "Arrived  at  Versailles,"  he  says,  "  the  coachman 
sets  me  down  at  the  door  of  M.  de  Puisegur,  Minis 
ter  at  War.  After  waiting  for  my  turn  I  address  the  Min 
ister  by  asking  if  he  is  M.  DeVille  Delville,  to  whom  I 
have  the  honor  of  addressing  myself.  He  informs  me 
of  my  mistake,  and  as  he  is  a  man  of  the  sword  and  not  of 
the  robe,  this  mistake  is  not  a  small  one."  Finally,  when 
M.  Delville  is  found  and  appealed  to  for  help  he  refuses 
to  understand  reason  ;  and  the  next  morning  the  unfortu 
nate  Mr.  Nesbitt  woke  Morris  at  any  early  hour,  by 
rushing  into  his  chamber  to  escape  from  the  officer.  "  I 
get  up,"  Morris  says,  "  and  endeavor  to  persuade  this 
latter  to  go  away  ;  but  it  will  not  do.  He  has  already  sent 
for  the  commissary  and  the  guard.  Presently  they  arrive 
in  their  respective  uniforms,  and  as  the  door  is  kept 
bolted  a  locksmith  is  also  sent  for.  He  comes,  and  before 
the  application  of  his  tools  I  inform  Mr.  Nesbitt  of  what 
has  passed,  and  he  comes  out.  He  contends  that  they 
cannot  take  him,  because  he  has  not  been  duly  summoned. 
But  the  officer  produces  a  certificate  that  he  has.  And 
although  this  is  certainly  false,  yet  justice  must  believe 
its  own  instruments.  He  sets  off  for  the  bureau  and  I  go 
and  make  interest  for  his  release.  Nesbitt  is  nevertheless 
dragged  to  1'Hotel  de  Force  and  detained  there  some 


*  Count  Arthur  Dillon,  a  French  general,  chosen  a  deputy  to  the  States- 
General  in  1789.  Later  he  served  under  Dumouriez,  but  was  disaffected 
toward  the  new  regime  and  was  recalled  in  1793,  imprisoned,  and  perished 
on  the  guillotine  in  1794. 


38  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

time.  "I  go  to  the  Comte  de  Puisignieu  to  supper.  Hear 
that  Lafayette  is  like  to  lose  his  election  in  Auvergne — a 
circumstance  which  gives  great  pleasure,  I  find,  to  some 
persons  here.  His  conduct  is  much  disapproved  of,  as 
indeed  is  naturally  to  be  expected,  by  all  those  attached 
to  the  order  of  nobility.  I  believe  he  has  mixed  a  little 
too  deep,  for  I  am  very  much  mistaken  if  he  is  not, 
without  knowing  it  himself,  a  much  greater  aristocrat  than 
those  of  the  party  opposed  to  him.  In  effect,  as  the  con 
stitution  of  this  country  must  inevitably  undergo  some 
change  which  will  lessen  the  monarchical  power,  it  is 
clear  that  unless  the  nobles  acquire  a  constitutional  sanc 
tion  to  some  of  their  privileges,  if  will  be  in  the  power  of 
the  ministry  afterwards  to  confound  them  entirely  with 
the  people,  (according  to  the  strange  doctrine  supported 
by  the  Duke  of  Orleans)  and  the  result  must  be  either  a 
tyranny  of  one  in  the  first  instance  or  as  a  consequence  of 
the  anarchy  which  would  result  from  giving  the  wretched 
constitution  of  the  Pennsylvania  legislature  to  the  King 
dom  of  France." 

As  to  the  distress  among  the  paupers  of  Paris  during 
this  spring,  Morris,  who  fearlessly  and  harmlessly  walked 
or  drove  through  every  part  of  the  town,  observing  closely 
as  he  went,  wrote  to  his  brother,  General  Morris,  then  in 
England,  as  follows  : 

"  I  believe  your  apprehensions  of  the  sufferings  of 
people  here  from  cold  are  not  unfounded.  But  they 
have  in  that  respect  an  advantage  which  you  did  not 
think  of  ;  viz.,  that  they  are  stowed  so  close,  and  in 
such  little  cabins,  that  if  they  live  through  the  first  few 
months  they  have  an  atmosphere  of  their  own  about  them. 
In  effect,  none  of  the  beggars  I  have  seen  complain  to  me 
of  cold.  They  all  ask  for  the  means  to  get  a  morsel  of 
bread,  and  show  by  their  countenance  that  by  bread  they 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  39 

mean  wine.  And  if  the  vintners  were  to  interpret  this 
last  word,  the  poor  devils  would  find  that  it  means  a  very 
different  kind  of  liquor.  Among  the  objects  which  pre 
sent  themselves,  doubtless  some  are  deserving  of  charity, 
but  these  are  scarcely  to  be  noticed  in  the  crowd  of  pre 
tenders.  However,  they  get  from  me  all  my  small  change, 
and  I  must  confess,  to  my  shame,  that  I  give  rather  for 
peace'  sake  than  through  benevolence.  The  rascals  have, 
I  suppose,  found  out  by  studying  human  nature  that  each 
man  loves  himself  better  than  his  neighbor,  and  therefore 
make  it  his  interest  to  give.  The  rich,  in  return,  as  pat 
rons  of  industry,  are  vastly  inattentive  to  these  importu 
nities,  and  by  withholding  their  alms  try  to  make  it  the 
interest  of  the  others  to  work  rather  than  to  beg.  The 
effects  of  habit  on  each  are  wonderful.  Not  long  since  I 
saw  a  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  weep  at  an  air  of  an 
opera,  who  had  heard  a  beggar  clatter  his  crutches  in  pur 
suit  of  him  for  the  length  of  a  street  without  turning 
round  to  look  at  him.  'Tis  true  there  is  a  difference  in  the 
music. 

"You  are  right  in  your  idea  that  our  contest  has  given  a 
confused  notion  of  liberty  to  this  country,  but  there  are 
many  persons  here  whose  views  are  very  clear  and  dis 
tinct.  It  is  highly  probable  that  a  constitution  will  be  es 
tablished,  as  free  as  is  consistent  with  their  manners  and 
situation  ;  in  which  case  the  King  will  gain  more  abroad 
than  he  loses  at  home,  if,  indeed,  it  can  be  called  a  loss  to 
part  with  the  power  of  doing  mischief  and  retain  only  the 
power  of  doing  good.  If  the  indisposition  of  the  King  of 
England  should  keep  their  politics  a  little  more  at  home, 
the  nation  will  be  much  happier.  That  preponderance 
which  Britain  had  gained  during  the  peace,  from  the  cir 
cumstances  in  which  other  nations  found  themselves,  and 
which  has  led  to  a  very  dictatorial  conduct  that  by  those 


4O  DIARY   AND   LETTERS  OF  [CHAP.  II. 

same  circumstances  became  successful,  would,  I  fear, 
have  soon  set  the  world  again  on  fire,  and  it  is  ten  to  one 
that  her  own  feathers  would  have  been  singed  in  the  gen 
eral  combustion." 

"At  supper  to-night  [March  lyth]  in  the  salon  of  the 
Baron  de  Besenval,"  *  the  diary  mentions,  "  M.  le  Comte 
de  Puisignieu,  who  has  an  estate  in  St.  Dominique, 
asks  me  to  speak  to  M.  de  Malesherbes  on  the  com 
merce  of  the  Islands.  This  apropos  of  the  letter  written 
some  years  before  on  this  subject  to  the  Marquis  de  Chas- 
tellux.  I  tell  him  that  I  have  no  wit  to  talk  with  their 
ministers  on  public  affairs,  but  if  he  chooses  to  ask  my 
ideas  it  will  be  my  duty  to  give  them,  after  his  very  par 
ticular  attention  to  me.  In  effect,  I  had  rather  leave  our 
affairs  in  the  hands  of  our  Minister,  and  give  him  my 
ideas." 

From  this  time  Morris  became  deeply  engaged  in 
large  affairs  of  public  interest  to  America  and  France. 
In  a  long  conversation  on  the  i8th  of  March  with  William 
Short,  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Legation  under  Jef 
ferson,  speculations  in  American  bonds  and  the  purchase 
of  the  debt  of  the  United  States  to  France,  were  discussed 
at  length,  and  Morris  expressed  himself  willing  to  take 
an  interest  for  himself  and  his  friends,  in  speculations 
of  this  kind  "  which  are  well  founded — provided  always 
there  be  nothing  in  them  prejudicial  to  the  United  States 
or  inconsistent  with  personal  honor  or  integrity."  Din 
ing  with  M.  de  Malesherbes  the  evening  of  this  same 
day,  he  hinted  to  him  "  the  idea  of  supplying  the  garrison 
in  the  French  Islands  from  America  and  of  furnishing 

*  Baron  de  Besenval,  lieutenant  of  the  Swiss.  The  women,  owing  to  his 
gray  hairs,  had  great  confidence  in  him.  He  was  considered  the  best  racon 
teur  in  the  salon  of  Madame  Jules  de  Polignac.  He  was  tried  for  his  life  on 
the  charge  of  being  an  aristocrat  and  trying  to  fly  from  France,  but  was  ac 
quitted  in  March,  1790. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  41 

salt  beef  to  the  fleet."  Certainly  Morris  found  no  dif 
ficulty  in  filling  the  days  with  work  and  society  duties, 
if  paying  thirteen  calls  on  various  ladies,  besides  having 
long  conversations  on  the  Nesbitt  affair  with  Parker,  on 
the  purchase  of  the  debt  to  France  with  M.  Le  Coulteux  * 
the  banker,  a  pleasant  hour  of  gossip  with  Madame  de 
Chastellux,  and  ending  the  day  with  a  supper  at  Madame 
de  Corney's,  "  when  we  have  some  good  music,"  meant 
anything. 

"  Colonel  Laumoy  breakfasts  with  me  to-day,"  he  says 
in  his  diary  for  March  2ist,  and  we  go  together  to  Versailles, 
invite  ourselves  to  dine  with  the  Count  d'Angivilliers,  and 
look  at  the  apartments  in  the  Castle  of  Versailles.  This 
is  an  immense  monument  of  the  vanity  and  folly  of  Louis 
Fourteenth.  We  see  neither  the  King  nor  the  Queen,  but 
as  we  come  not  to  look  for  them  this  is  no  misfortune. 
Like  the  other  hangers  on  of  the  Court,  we  desire  not 
them,  but  theirs — with  this  difference,  however,  that  we 
mean  to  gratify  curiosity,  not  cupidity.  The  King  is  well 
lodged — the  Queen's  apartments  I  cannot  see  because  Her 
Majesty  is  there,  but  it  is  ten  to  one  that  I  should  like  her 
better  than  any  other  part  of  the  furniture.  Her  picture, 
however,  by  Madame  Lebrun,  will  do  as  well,  and  perhaps 
better,  for  it  is  very  beautiful,  doubtless  as  much  so  as  the 
original." 

It  was  at  Versailles  in  the  salon  of  Madame  Cabanis, 
wife  of  the  celebrated  physiologist  and  physician,  Pierre 
Jean  George  Cabanis,  the  personal  friend  of  Mirabeau, 

*The  firm  of  Le  Coulteux  de  Cantaleu,  bankers,  of  Rouen,  was  of  great 
antiquity  even  in  the  time  of  Louis  Fourteenth,  who,  desirous  of  encourag 
ing  commerce  and  breaking  down  the  barriers  which  prejudice  had  raised 
against  it,  offered  to  give  the  members  of  the  firm  letters  of  nobility.  They 
refused  the  offer,  saying  that  they  preferred  the  reputation  of  old  merchants 
to  that  of  new  nobles,  and  would  rather  be  at  the  head  of  one  class  than  at 
the  tail  of  the  other. 


42  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

and  the  ami  de  la  maison  of  Condorcet,  that  Morris  first 
met  Madame  de  Flahaut,  the  romance  writer,  the  friend 
of  Montesquieu  and  of  the  Bishop  of  Autun.  She  was 
at  this  time  in  the  glory  of  her  youth  and  attractions,  with 
possibly  a  touch  of  sadness  about  her  and  certainly  a  rare 
sympathy,  which,  added  to  her  thoroughly  trained  mind, 
with  its  decidedly  philosophical  cast,  gave  her  an  uncom 
mon  power  over  men.  Hers  had  been  a  strange  life. 
Married  at  fifteen  to  the  Comte  de  Flahaut,  then  quite 
fifty — who  had  denied  himself  no  excess  of  dissipation — 
she  found  herself  coldly  neglected.  The  Abbe  Perigord, 
who  had  performed  the  marriage  ceremony  for  her,  be 
came  her  friend,  companion,  and  instructor — for  to  him 
she  owed  the  opening  and  training  of  her  intellect — and 
he  became  also  the  father  of  her  only  child,  who  was 
named  Charles,  after  the  abbe.  But  to  return  to  the  diary. 
"Madame  de  Flahaut,"  Morris  says,  "entered  the  room 
with  her  sister  Madame  d'Angivilliers,  the  wife  of  M. 
Bellarderie  d'Angivilliers,  Director-General  of  the  Navy. 
She  speaks  English  and  is  a  pleasing  woman  ;  if  I  might 
judge  from  appearances,  not  a  sworn  enemy  to  intrigue." 
Madame  Adele  de  Flahaut,  during  the  dark  days  of  the 
Revolution,  received  many  substantial  proofs  of  friendship 
from  Morris.  She  was  destined  to  fly  for  her  life  and  to 
be  made  a  widow  by  the  guillotine  in  1793. 

Those  were  pleasant  days  and  evenings  in  the  grand 
salons  of  the  Palais  Royal,  and  the  lesser  ones  of  Paris  p 
generally,  before  the  Terror  came.  A  change  had  undoubt 
edly  come  since  the  time  of  Louis  XV.  There  was  no  longer 
dancing,  and  fewer  love-making  couples  scattered  about 
the  room  ;  large  groups  of  people  came  together  for  more 
general  conversation.  The  gaming  table  was  always  to  be 
found,  where  one  woman  and  an  abbe  tried  their  luck  with 
the  dice-box  ;  while  someone  reading  a  book  by  the  win- 


1789.]  -  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  43 

dow  was  not  an  uncommon  sight.  "The  society  was 
there,"  Goncourt  says,  "  but  not  the  pleasure  of  the  salons 
of  the  time  of  Louis  Fifteenth."  But  the  ladies  had  not,  as 
yet,  lost  their  spirits  by  reason  of  the  sorrows  that  came 
later,  and  their  natural  grace  of  manner  and  mind  lent  a 
charm  to  their  conversation  that  nothing  else  could  give. 
Morris  surely  counted  himself  born  under  a  fortunate 
star  to  be  the  favored  guest  of  such  as  they.  In  the  bou 
doir  of  the  lovely  Madame  de  Duras-Dufurt,  the  friend 
of  Madame  de  Stael  and  an  authoress,  he  was  one  even 
ing  wholly  charmed  by  the  surroundings.  "  For  the  first 
time,"  he  says,  "  I  have  an  idea  of  the  music  which 
may  be  drawn  from  the  harp.  In  the  boudoir  of  madame, 
adjoining  the  salon,  I  have  the  pleasure  to  sit  for  an  hour 
alone  by  a  light  exactly  resembling  twilight,  the  temperature 
of  the  air  brought  to  perfect  mildness — and  the  sweetest 
sounds.  Later  in  the  evening  came  a  change  of  scene,  and 
a  bishop  from  Languedoc  makes  tea  and  the  ladies  who 
choose  it  stand  round  and  take  each  their  dish.  This 
would  seem  strange  in  America,  and  yet  it  is  by  no  means 
more  so  than  the  Chevalier  de  Louis  who  begged  alms  of 
me  this  morning  after  introducing  himself  by  his  own  let 
ter."  Going  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's  one  evening 
(March  25th)  Morris  found  himself  among  the  noblesse,  and 
in  a  few  moments  after  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  appeared. 
"  The  duchess,"  he  says,  "is  affable  and  handsome  enough 
to  punish  the  duke  for  his  irregularities.  Madame  de 
Segur  goes  away  early,  as  the  company  seem  determined  to 
increase.  The  widow  of  the  late  Duke  of  Orleans  comes 
in,  and  at  going  away,  according  to  custom,  kisses  the 
duchess.  I  observe  that  the  ladies  of  Paris  are  very  fond  of 
each  other,  which  gives  room  to  some  observations  from  her 
Royal  Highness  on  the  person  who  has  just  quitted  the 
room,  which  show  that  the  kiss  does  not  always  betoken 


44  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

great  affection.  In  going  away  she  is  pleased  to  say  that 
she  is  glad  to  have  met  me,  and  I  believe  her.  The  reason 
is  that  I  dropped  some  expressions  and  sentiments  a  little 
rough,  and  which  were  agreeable  because  they  contrast  with 
the  palling  polish  she  constantly  meets  with  everywhere. 
Hence  I  conclude  that  the  less  I  have  the  honor  of  such 
good  company  the  better,  for  when  the  novelty  ceases  all  is 
over,  and  I  shall  probably  be  worse  than  insipid.  Every 
body  complains  of  the  weather  and  yet  the  weather  don't 
mend.  It  could  not  be  worse  if  we  praised  it." 

The  diary  notes  that  "  on  Friday  [March  27th]  the  Mare- 
chal  de  Castries  calls  and  takes  me  to  dine  with  M.  and 
Madame  Necker.*  In  the  salon  we  find  Madame  de  Stael. 
She  seems  to  be  a  woman  of  sense  and  somewhat  mascu 
line  in  her  character,  but  has  very  much  the  appearance  of 
a  chambermaid.  A  little  before  dinner  M.  Necker  enters. 
He  has  the  look  and  manner  of  the  counting-house,  and, 
being  dressed  in  embroidered  velvet,  he  contrasts  strongly 
with  his  habiliments.  His  bow,  his  address,  etc.,  say,  '/ 
am  the  man.'  Our  company  is  one  half  Academicians. 
The  Duchess  of  Biron,  formerly  Lauzun,  is  one.  I  observe 
that  M.  Necker  seems  occupied  by  ideas  whch  rather 
distress  him.  He  cannot,  I  think,  stay  in  office  half  an 
hour  after  the  nation  insist  on  keeping  him  there.  He  is 
much  harassed  and  madame  receives  continually  memoires 
from  different  people,  so  that  she  seems  as  much  occupied 

*  Jacques  Necker,  Prime  Minister  of  France,  was  a  native  of  Switzerland. 
The  first  public  exposition  of  the  revenue  and  expenses  of  the  State  was 
made  by  him  in  his  famous  compte  rendu  published  in  1781  and  which  was  re 
ceived  with  great  favor  ;  but,  later,  his  reforms  made  for  him  many  enemies  at 
Court  and  elsewhere.  He  succeeded  Brienne  as  Prime  Minister  or  Comp 
troller  of  Finances  about  September  i,  1788.  He  favored  the  Revolution  by 
granting  to  the  Tiers  Etat  a  double  number  of  deputies.  On  the  I  ith  of  July, 
1789,  he  was  suddenly  dismissed,  but  was  recalled  on  the  2istof  July,  and  re 
mained  in  office  until  September,  1790,  when,  becoming  convinced  that  he 
was  too  conservative  to  satisfy  the  popular  party,  he  resigned,  and  passed  the 
rest  of  his  life  at  Coppet. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  45 

as  he  is.  If  he  is  a  really  great  man  I  am  deceived,  and 
yet  this  is  a  rash  judgment  ;  but  how  can  one  help  forming 
some  judgment  ?  If  he  is  not  a  laborious  man  I  am  also 
deceived.  From  dinner  I  visit  Madame  de  Chastellux. 
After  being  there  some  time  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  en 
ters.  We  have  a  trio  for  half  an  hour.  She  has  something 
or  the  other  which  weighs  heavy  at  her  heart,  perhaps  the 
'besoin  d'etre  aimee,'  that  '  painful  void  left  aching  in  the 
breast.'  I  make  an  apology  for  her  husband's  wildness, 
by  advising  her  to  breed  her  son,  M.  de  Beaujolais,  to 
business,  because  otherwise  at  five  and  twenty,  having  en 
joyed  all  which  rank  and  fortune  can  give  him,  he  will  be 
unhappy  from  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  himself.  She 
repeats  that  she  is  very  glad  to  see  me  there.  This  is 
very  kind,  but  I  do  not  exactly  know  what  it  means." 

After  a  pleasant  hour  with  the  duchess  and  Madame  de 
Chastellux,  a  supper  with  the  Baron  de  Besenval  claimed 
attention.  "  A  large  party,"  he  says,  "  and  his  reputed  son, 
the  Vicomte  de  Segur,  is  one  of  the  number,  and  if  resem 
blances  and  caresses  may  be  taken  for  evidence  of  the 
fact  it  must  be  admitted.  This  young  man  is  the  Lovelace 
of  his  day  and  as  remarkable  for  seductions  as  his  father. 
He  does  not  want  for  understanding.  The  tone  of  the 
society  here  seems  to  be  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to 
call  the  States-General  for  such  a  trifle  as  the  deficit 
amounts  to.  The  business  of  M.  Necker  therefore  stands 
thus  :  If  any  mischiefs  happen  they  will  be  charged  to 
him.  If  he  gets  well  through  the  business  others  will 
claim  the  reputation  of  what  good  is  done  by  the  States- 
General.  He  loves  flattery — for  he  flatters  ;  he  is  there 
fore  easily  deceived.  He  believes  that  many  persons  sup 
port  him  out  of  esteem,  who  I  believe  only  use  him,  and 
will  throw  by  the  instrument  when  it  can  no  longer  serve 
their  purpose.  Necker  is  in  blast  till  May,  but  will  prob- 


46  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

ably  blow  out  unless  further  means  can  be  devised.  The 
Caisse  d'Escompte  is  full  of  'effets  royaux '  (royal  bills). 
Consequently  both  the  means  and  the  inclination  to  afford 
succor  are  wanting." 

Not  yet  entirely  used  to  the  manners  and  customs  of 
Paris,  "I  find,"  Morris  says,  "that  I  have  been  guilty 
of  a  betise  in  answering  a  note  of  Madame  de  Corney  by 
one  addressed  to  monsieur.  Although  it  was  signed  De 
Corney,  I  ought  to  have  understood  better  '  the  marks  of 
the  crow-quill.'  Dine  [March  3oth]  with  Marshal  de  Cas 
tries.*  Hint  an  idea  to  him  respecting  the  debt  and  ex 
press  a  wish  to  converse  with  him  on  the  subject.  He 
appoints  to-morrow.  Call  on  Madame  de  Chastellux. 
After  some  time  Madame  de  Segur  comes  in.  Her  visit 
is  short,  being  engaged  for  the  evening.  After  she  has 
left  us  for  a  while  the  Duchesse  d'Orleans  enters.  A 
look  from  her  Royal  Highness  opens  the  idea  that  M. 
Morris  est  tm  peu  amour eux  de  Madame  la  Marquise,  but 
Madame  la  Duchesse  is  mistaken.  However,  this  mis 
take  can  do  no  harm  to  anybody.  The  Vicomte  de  Segur 
comes  in  and  a  look  which  he  takes  great  pains  to  conceal 
tells  me  that  he  believes  I  am  inclined  to  take  his  advice 
of  the  other  day,  viz.,  to  have  an  affair  with  the  widow, 
and  it  tells  me  also  that  he  means  to  console  her  for  the 
loss  of  her  husband.  From  thence  I  go  to  Madame  de 
Flahaut's,  an  elegant  woman,  and  a  snug  party.  She  is 
by  no  means  deficient  in  understanding,  and  has,  I  think, 
good  dispositions.  Nous  verrons" 

In  a  long  conversation  on  April  ist,  which  was  solicited 
vby  the  Marechal  de  Castries,  Morris  stated  his  ideas 


"The  Marechal  de  Castries,  an  able  general  of  France,  was  Governor-Gen 
eral  of  Flanders  at  one  time  and  afterward  Minister  of  Marine.  His  hotel  was 
among  the  first  destroyed  in  Paris  by  the  Revolutionists  in  1789.  He  emi 
grated  and  found  an  asylum  with  the  Duke  of  Brunswick. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  47 

with  regard  to  the  value  of  the  debt  from  America  to 
France,  and  proposed  to  purchase  it  with  tobacco,  flour, 
rice,  and  salt  provisions— part  payment  to  be  made  with 
money,  and  part  with  the  debt.  But  the  Marshal  ob 
jected  to  the  salt  provisions  because  they  must  encourage 
this  commerce  with  Ireland,  the  Irish  buying  large 
quantities  of  Bordeaux  wine.  "  He  thinks,"  Morris  says, 
"the  tobacco  may  do,  objects  to  the  flour,  and  says  noth 
ing  about  the  rice,  and  thinks,  on  the  whole,  that  the  pay 
ment  of  the  debt  is  of  trifling  importance  in  comparison 
with  the  greater  object  of  French  commerce.  M.  Necker 
will,  on  the  contrary,  I  presume,  be  of  opinion  that  the 
payment  of  the  debt  is  of  the  utmost  importance."  Mor 
ris,  however,  was  to  submit  his  ideas  on  paper  that  the 
marshal  might  further  consider  them. 

M.  de  Lafayette  had,  in  spite  of  Morris's  fears  to  the 
contrary,  just  secured  his  election  for  his  province  in 
Auvergne,  and  on  the  second  of  April  Morris  called  on 
Madame  de  Lafayette  to  congratulate  her  on  the  result, 
and  talk  a  little  politics.  From  there  to  Madame  de 
Chastellux's,  where  Madame  Rully,  "  another  of  the  Du- 
chesse  d'Orleans's  women  of  honor,  comes  in,  and  with 
very  fine  eyes  which  she  knows  very  well  how  to  make  use 
of.  Has  no  antipathy  to  the  gentler  passion.  Nousverrons. 

Madame ,  sister  to  the  late  M.   de  Chastellux,  joins 

us,  and  after  some  time  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  She 
complains  of  a  headache,  but  is,  I  think,  rather  out  of 
temper  than  in  ill-health.  M.  Morris  seems  to  me  not  to 
be  such  agreeable  company  as  before.  Take  leave  and 
go  to  supper  with  Madame  de  Corney.  After  a  little 
while  Madame  de  Flahaut  enters.  Presently,  M.  de 
Corney.*  He  has  in  vain  contested  for  the  rights  of  the 
Prtuotd  of  Paris.  Reads  us  his  speech.  M.  Necker  is 

*  M.  de  Corney,  procureur  de  la  ville. 


48  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

blamed,  and  the  company  do  not  appear  inclined  to  mercy 
on  his  subject.  I  had  learnt  at  Madame  de  Chastellux's 
that  the  King  has  received  an  express  that  M.  de  Calonne 
is  at  Douay,  and  will  probably  be  elected  a  member  of  the 
States-General.  This  intelligence  is  not  disagreeable  to 
the  company  here.  M.  de  Corney  tells  me  he  did  every 
thing  in  his  power  for  Nesbitt,  but  the  bureau  of  M.  De- 
Ville  Delville  are  violently  prejudiced  against  him.  This 
Nesbitt  ought  to  have  known,  for  in  his  affair  he  met  a 
beautiful  woman,  the  sister  or  cousin  of  his  creditor,  and 
in  the  second  affair  M.  le  Secretaire  treated  him  with  the 
utmost  politeness  and  showed  no  doubt  of  the  success  of 
his  application,  etc.,  whereas  at  Versailles  I  found  very 
great  obstacles.  Thus  a  little  negligence  has  involved 
him  in  a  manner  which  I  shall  find  very  difficult  to  ex 
tricate  him  from.  At  going  away  Madame  de  Corney  tells 
me,  '  Et  bien,  je  vous  ai  fait  souper  avec  Madame  de 
Flahaut,  ne  suis-je  pas  une  bonne  femme?'  *  Oui,  Ma 
dame.'  The  rest  of  my  compliment  is  conveyed  by  press 
ing  her  hand  and  a  look  of  reconnaissance." 

"  I  go  [April  3d]  to  keep  an  engagement  with  Madame 
de  Flahaut,  to  see  the  statues,  paintings  etc.,  of  the 
Louvre.  She  is  in  bed  and  her  brother-in-law  is  sit 
ting  witli  her.  So  it  appears  she  has,  as  she  says,  for 
gotten  her  engagement  to  me.  M.  de  Flahaut  comes  in. 
She  sends  us  forward,  and  is  to  follow.  This  is  done. 
We  walk  over  the  court  of  the  Louvre,  through  the  mud, 
view  the  statues — the  paintings  we  cannot  see,  that  pleas 
ure  is  for  another  opportunity.  Return  to  her  quarters. 
Monsieur,  presuming  that  I  was  about  to  follow  her  up 
stairs  merely  out  of  politeness,  apologizes  for  me.  In 
consequence  I  take  my  leave,  and  thus  a  scene,  which 
my  imagination  had  painted  very  well,  turns  out  good  for 
nothing.  The  weather  contributes  to  render  it  disagree- 


XJNIVEKSIT 

1789.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  49 

able — wind,  rain,  and,  of  course  mud  without,  and  damp 
ness  within.  But  this  is  human  life.  Monsieur,  as  I  go 
away,  expresses  a  hope  to  see  me  again  soon,  and  requests 
to  be  commanded  if  he  can  be  useful  in  anything.  This 
politesse  is  always  agreeable,  though  a  man  must  be  a  fool 
to  believe  in  it. 

''This  is  a  day  of  accidents.  In  going  from  hence  I  slip 
as  I  step  into  the  carriage,  and  bruise  my  shin  very  much. 
Thus  everything  goes  wrong.  Visit  the  Comtesse  Durfort. 
She  has  company  and  is  but  just  risen.  Pressed  to  dine, 
but  decline  it.  She  is  going  to  sup  with  the  Baron  de 
Besenval,  and  I  promise  to  be  there  if  I  can.  She  says 
if  I  do  not  go,  it  is  because  I  will  not.  *  On  peut  tout 
ce  qu'on  veut.'  Stammer  out  a  bald  compliment  in  re 
ply.  I  am  certainly  good  for  nothing,  and  the  only  tol 
erable  thing  I  can  do  is  to  go  home.  This  is  done,  and, 
being  out  of  humor  with  myself,  I  find  the  dinner  very 
bad.  Threaten  to  deal  with  another  waiter — extremely 
ridiculous.  The  waiter,  who  behaves  with  great  humility, 
must,  I  think,  despise  me  for  talking  angrily  before  I  can 
talk  French.  At  five  o'clock  I  visit  Madame  de  Segur. 
Madame  de  Chastellux  and  Madame  de  Puisignieu  are 
there.  In  conversing  about  public  men  and  measures  I 
am  so  weak  and  absurd  as  to  express  many  opinions  which 
I  ought  to  conceal,  and  some  of  which  I  may  perhaps  find 
reason  to  alter.  Two  ladies  come  in,  and  as  I  am  going 
away  Madame  de  Segur,  to  whom  I  had  mentioned  my 
intention  of  visiting  Mr.  Jefferson,  has  the  politeness  to 
say,  '  Nous  vous  reverrons,  M.  Morris  ? '  and  I  have 
the  stupidity  to  answer  in  the  affirmative.  Call  on  Mr. 
Jefferson,  and  sit  an  hour  with  him,  which  is  at  least  fifty 
minutes  too  long,  for  his  daughter  had  left  the  room  on  my 
approach,  and  waits  only  my  departure,  at  least  I  think  so. 
Returning  in  consistency  with  my  promise,  I  call  on  Ma- 
4 


50  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  II. 

dame  de  Segur,  and  am  shown  into  the  room  where  she 
is  with  her  father-in-law.  He  lies  on  a  couch,  or  rather 
sofa — the  gout  in  his  right  hand,  which  is  his  only  hand. 
Madame  de  Chastellux  and  another  lady  are  there.  I 
think  I  was  wrong  to  come  here,  and  for  that  reason  find 
it  difficult  to  get  away — vastly  awkward.  At  length  make 
a  shift  to  take  leave,  and,  to  avoid  all  further  folly  for  this 
day,  determine  to  go  home." 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  51 


CHAPTER   III. 

Dearth  of  wheat  at  Lyons.  Morris  offers  Necker  a  cargo.  Graciousness  of 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Ladies  vexed  by  long  arguments  in  the 
salons.  Ten  thousand  troops  ordered, out.  Swiss  guards  within  the 
barriers.  Necker's  fall  desired.  Tete-a-tete  dish  of  tea  with  Madame 
de  S6gur.  King  and  princes  oppose  liberty.  Political  talk  with  the 
Bishop  of  Autun.  Makes  a  plan  of  finance  for  France.  Advises  the 
massing  of  the  Swiss  guards  round  the  king's  person.  Election  excite 
ments.  A  water-party  on  the  Seine.  An  eventful  day  at  Versailles. 
Meeting  of  the  States-General.  Magnificent  spectacle.  Mirabeau 
hissed.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  applauded.  Visit  to  Marly.  Madame 
du  Barry.  Madame  de  Se'gur  at  her  toilet.  Petit-Trianon  Gardens. 
Madame  de  Suze's  lapdog. 

IN  the  month  of  April  the  dearth  of  wheat  at  Lyons 
gave  the  ministers  serious  apprehension,  and  Morris 
proposed  to  the  banker  Le  Coulteux  to  offer  a  cargo  of 
grain  which  was  then  arriving.  The  plan  was  approved 
of  and  an  express  sent  to  Versailles  to  consult  with  M. 
Necker.  "  This  evening  [April  6th]  at  Madame  de 
Puisignieu's,"  says  the  diary,  "  I  am  told  that  there  is 
wheat  enough  in  the  kingdom,  but  that  it  is  bought  up  by 
forestallers  and  that  M.  Necker  is  suspected  of  having 
engaged  the  funds  and  credit  of  government  in  the  op 
eration,  by  which  he  will  get  for  the  crown  one  hundred 
and  fifty  millions.  I  cannot  help  expressing  my  detesta 
tion  of  this  vile  slander,  and  M.  de  Puisignieu  seems 
ashamed  of  hinting  it.  How  wretched  is  the  situation  of 
that  man  who  is  raised  high  above  others.  His  services, 
the  fruit  of  anxious  solicitude,  are  attributed  to  chance,  or 
pared  down  to  the  size  of  ordinary  occurrences.  But  every 


52  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

public  misfortune,  even  the  interference  of  the  seasons 
and  the  operations  of  human  cupidity,  are  charged  to  the 
ignorance  or  injustice  of  administration.  M.  Le  Coulteux 
wishes  that  I  should  go  with  him  to  one  of  the  adminis 
tration  about  the  cargo  of  the  Russel,  as  he  is  fearful 
that  an  offer  from  him  would  be  considered  merely  in  the 
light  of  a  private  speculation.  In  the  afternoon  go  to 
M.  Le  Coulteux's  and  take  him  up  by  appointment. 
We  visit  M.  Montlieraiu,  and  Monsieur  C.  opens  the 
business.  I  find  he  was  right  in  his  idea  of  the  reception 
it  would  meet  with,  but  I  cut  the  matter  short  by  putting 
it  at  once  on  its  true  ground  without  any  of  those  com 
pliments  that  had  already  been  brought  forward  and  which 
might  of  course  now  be  dispensed  with.  This  induces 
M.  Montlieraiu  to  think  more  seriously  of  the  mat 
ter.  The  brother  of  the  first  magistrate  of  Lyons  is  sent 
for,  who  wishes  it  very  much.  After  considering  the  sev 
eral  difficulties  the  thing  appears  of  such  consequence  that 
a  letter  is  to  be  written  to-morrow,  to  M.  Necker.  I 
desire  pointedly  that,  if  my  name  is  used,  M.  Necker  may 
know  that  this  offer  is  made  from  a  view  to  relieve  the  ad 
ministration,  but  above  all  to  succor  the  distressed  peo 
ple  and  without  the  slightest  attention  to  pecuniary  con 
siderations." 

The  ''procession  to  Longchamp "  took  place  on  the 
8th  of  April,  and  Morris  described  it  as  "  exhibiting  a 
strange  mixture  of  wretched  fiacres  and  superb  equipages 
with  all  the  intermediate  degrees.  While  visiting  Madame 
de  Chastellux  this  evening,"  he  continues,  "  a  message  is 
brought  from  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  to  the  effect  that 
she  cannot  pay  her  intended  visit.  Madame  de  Chastellux 
told  me  that  the  Duchess  had  observed  on  not  seeing  me 
there  for  some  time,  and  said  she  would  visit  me  chez 
Madame  la  Marquise  this  evening.  This  is  a  badinage 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  53 

which  I  begin  to  comprehend,  and  there  is  nothing  in  it  to 
flatter  my  vanity.  Tant  mieux.  I  assure  the  marchioness 
of  my  veneration  and  affection,  etc.,  for  her  Royal  High- 
ness's  virtues,  in  which  there  is  much  more  sincerity  than 
a  person  of  her  rank  has  a  right  to  expect.  She  tells  me 
that  Madame  de  Rully  is  a  slut.  I  assure  her  that  this  in 
formation  gives  me  great  concern,  that  I  was  becoming 
violently  in  love  with  her,  and  am  totally  palled  by  the 
communication.  Tout  cela  s'entend." 

The  early  spring  attracted  Morris  toward  the  coun 
try,  and  he  mentions  visiting  the  country-seat  of  M. 
le  Normand,  where,  with  his  true  farmer's  instinct,  he 
carefully  examined  the  farm,  and  expressed  himself  very 
much  surprised  to  learn  "  that  the  sheep  are  housed  in 
winter.  I  attribute  it  with  other  practices  to  want  of 
knowledge  in  husbandry,"  he  says,  "  for,  in  effect,  this  is  a 
science  very  little  understood  in  France.  They  will  ac 
quire  it  by  means  of  that  Anglomania  which  now  rages 
among  them.  If  at  the  same  time  they  should  improve 
both  their  agriculture  and  constitution,  it  will  be  difficult 
to  calculate  the  power  of  this  nation.  But  the  progress 
of  this  nation  seems  to  be  much  greater  in  the  fine  arts 
than  in  the  useful  arts.  This  perhaps  depends  on  a  gov 
ernment  oppressive  to  industry  but  favorable  to  genius. 
At  Vieflis  [the  chateau  of  M.  le  Norrage]  we  have  a 
thousand  proofs  that  the  master  does  not  understand  cal 
culation  :  a  very  large  house  not  finished,  a  garden  or 
park  which,  if  ever  completed,  will  at  least  have  been  ex 
pensive,  and  will  perhaps  be  magnificent.  A  large  com 
pany  and  a  small  dinner.  An  abbe  declaims  violently 
against  moderation  in  politics.  He  will,  he  says,  carry 
the  post  by  assault.  This  will  be  somewhat  difficult,  as 
the  King  has  already  surrendered  everything  at  discretion. 
I  desire  the  Comte  de  Pellue  to  ask  him  what  he  wants. 


54  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

He  says  a  constitution.  But  what  constitution  ?  In  ex 
plaining  himself,  it  appears  that  he  desires  less  than  is 
already  granted,  and  a  part  of  the  company  differ  with 
him  because  he  does  not  desire  enough.  And  so  much 
for  carrying  everything  by  assault.  A  tedious  argument 
is  commenced,  to  which  I  pay  no  attention,  but  find  that 
the  ladies  are  vexed  at  it,  because  the  orators  are  so  vehe 
ment  that  their  gentle  voices  cannot  be  heard.  They  will 
have  more  of  this,  if  the  States-General  should  really  fix  a 
constitution.  Such  an  event  would  be  particularly  dis 
tressing  to  the  women  of  this  country,  for  they  would  be 
thereby  deprived  of  their  share  in  the  government,  and 
hitherto  they  have  exercised  an  authority  almost  un 
limited,  with  no  small  pleasure  to  themselves,  though 
not  perhaps  with  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  commu 
nity." 

"  To-day  [April  i5th]  I  visit  M.  Millet.  He  is  at  play  with 
a  number  of  people  who  look  like  gamblers.  Madame  is 
abroad  and  probably  engaged  at  a  different  game.  Call 
on  Madame  de  Durfort.  She  lets  me  know  that  she  is  go 
ing  to  pay  a  visit  to  a  sick  person,  and  she  takes  an  officer 
of  dragoons  to  support  her  under  the  affliction.  Take  tea 
with  Madame  de  Chastellux.  She  gives  me  many  curious 
anecdotes  of  this  country.  Two  ladies  come  in  and  talk 
politics.  One  of  them  dislikes  M.  Necker  so  much  that  she 
seemed  vexed  with  herself  for  being  pleased  with  a  little 
jeu  d'esprit  which  he  composed  several  years  ago  and 
which  Madame  de  Chastellux  reads  to  us." 

"In  a  very  long  conversation  with  M.  de  Lafayette  to 
day  [April  i  yth]  he  gives  me  the  history  of  his  campaign  in 
Auvergne.  I  find  that  his  mind  is  getting  right  as  to  the 
business  he  has  in  hand.  We  consider  of  a  revolt  in  Paris, 
and  agree  that  it  might  occasion  much  mischief  but  would 
not  produce  any  good,  that  in  consequence  it  will  be 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  55 

best  to  enter  a  protestation  against  the  manner  of  canvass 
ing  the  city,  etc.,  but  to  go  on  with  the  business  and  get 
the  members  elected.  There  is  to  be  a  meeting  of  the 
noblesse  this  afternoon  and  M.  Clermont  *  will  talk  to. 
this  effect.  He  is,  if  possible,  to  be  made  one  of  the  rep 
resentatives  and  is  therefore  to  be  brought  forward  as  a 
speaker  immediately.  Lafayette  says  he  has  genius  and 
family  though  of  small  fortune.  Go  to  dine  with  M.  de  la 
Breteche  after  dinner.  M.  de  Durfort,  comes  in.  He  has 
been  at  the  meeting.  M.  de  Clermont's  speech  was  very 
much  admired  and  he  carried  his  point  by  a  large  ma 
jority,  contrary,  says  M.  de  Durfort  to  the  wish  of  M. 
Necker' s  friends.  I  am  very  curious,  and  among  other 
things  ask  if  M.  de  Lafayette  was  there.  Yes,  and  said  a 
few  words  which  were  very  well.  As  M.  de  Durfort  is  not 
the  friend  of  either  M.  de  Lafayette  or  M.  Necker,  I  fancy 
things  have  gone  very  right.  Ten  thousand  men  are  or 
dered  into  the  neighborhood  of  Paris,  and  the  French  and 
Swiss  guards  are  within  the  barriers,  which  makes  the 
Mare'chaussee,  etc.,  six  thousand  more,  so  that  if  we  have 
an  insurrection  it  will  be  warm  work.  The  revolution  that 
is  carrying  on  in  the  country  is  a  strange  one.  A  few  peo 
ple  who  have  set  it  going  look  with  astonishment  at  their 
own  work.  The  ministers  contribute  to  the  destruction  of 
ministerial  authority,  without  knowing  either  what  they 
are  doing  or  what  to  do.  M.  Necker,  who  thinks  he  di 
rects  everything,  is  perhaps  himself  as  much  an  instru 
ment  as  any  of  those  which  he  makes  use  of.  His  fall  is 
I  think  desired,  but  it  will  not  happen  so  soon  as  his  ene 
mies  expect.  It  will  depend  much  on  the  chapter  of  acci 
dents  who  will  govern  the  States-General,  or  whether  they 
will  be  at  all  governable.  Gods  !  what  a  theatre  this  is 

*  Clermont  de  Tonnerre  was  elected  by  the  noblesse  to  the  States-General 
in  1789.     Perished  in  the  massacre  of  August  10,  1792. 


56  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

for  a  first-rate  character.  Lafayette  has  given  me  this 
morning  the  anticipation  of  a  whimsical  part  of  the  drama. 
The  Duke  de  Coigny,  one  of  the  Queen's  lovers,  is  directed 
by  his  constituents  to  move  that  the  Queen  shall  not,  in 
case  of  accidents,  be  Regent,  and  he  (Lafayette),  who  is 
hated  by  both  King  and  Queen,  intends  to  oppose  that  mo 
tion.  I  give  him  one  or  two  reasons  which  strike  me  in 
support  of  his  opinion,  but  he  inclines  to  place  it  on  a  dif 
ferent  ground.  His  opinions  accord  best  with  those  of  a 
republic.  Mine  are  drawn  only  from  human  nature  and 
ought  not  therefore  to  have  much  respect  in  this  age  of 
refinement.  It  would  indeed  be  ridiculous  for  those  to 
believe  in  man  who  affect  not  to  believe  in  God." 

"  This  afternoon  [April  28th]  over  a  tete-a-tete  dish  of  tea 
with  Madame  de  Segur  we  have  a  pleasant  talk.  The  tea 
is  very  good,  and  her  conversation  is  better  flavored  than 
her  tea,  which  comes  from  Russia.  After  this  an  hour 
spent  with  Madame  de  Chastellux  at  the  Palais  Royal, 
where  I  found  her  with  her  son  lying  in  her  lap.  A 
mother  in  this  situation  is  always  interesting,  and  her  late 
loss  renders  her  particularly  so.  In  the  course  of  conver 
sation,  asking  after  the  health  of  her  princess,  she  repeats 
a  message  formerly  delivered.  On  this  occasion  I  observe 
that  I  should  be  sorry  to  show  a  want  of  respectful  atten 
tion  or  be  guilty  of  an  indiscretion,  and  therefore  wish  to 
know  what  would  be  proper  conduct  should  I  meet  Her 
Highness  anywhere  else — that  my  present  opinion  is  that 
it  would  be  proper  not  to  know  her.  She  says  I  may  rely 
on  it  that  in  such  case  she  would  recognize  me.  I  tell  her 
farther  that,  although  in  my  interior  I  have  a  great  indif 
ference  for  the  advantages  of  birth,  and  only  respect  in 
her  Royal  Highness  the  virtues  she  possesses,  yet  I  feel 
myself  bound  to  comply  exteriorly  with  the  feelings  and 
prejudices  of  those  among  whom  I  find  myself.  Between 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  57 

nine  and  ten  it  is  concluded  that  the  Duchess  will  not 
make  her  evening  visit,  and  I  take  my  leave,  returning  the 
message  I  had  received  :  '  I  have  visited  Madame  la  Du- 
chesse  chez  Madame  de  Chastellux,  and  I  am  sorry  not  to 
have  met  her  there.'  " 

Morris  seemed  to  be  impressed  with  his  lack  of  the 
proper  spirit  of  a  traveller  and  sightseer,  for  in  a  letter 
[April  i8th]  to  a  friend  at  Philadelphia  he  confessed  his 
shortcomings  in  that  regard. 

"  I  am  pretty  well  convinced,"  he  wrote,  "  that  I  am  not 
fit  for  a  traveller,  and  yet  I  thought  otherwise  when  I  left 
America.  But  what  will  you  say  to  a  man  who  has  been 
above  two  months  in  Paris  without  ascending  to  the  top 
of  Notre  Dame,  who  has  been  but  three  times  to  Ver 
sailles,  and  on  neither  of  those  times  has  seen  the  King  or 
Queen,  or  had  the  wish  to  see  them,  and  who,  if  he  should 
continue  here  twenty  years,  would  continue  in  ignorance 
of  the  length  of  the  Louvre,  the  breadth  of  the  Pont 
Neuf,  etc.  ?  A  man  in  Paris  lives  in  a  sort  of  whirlwind 
which  turns  him  round  so  fast  that  he  can  see  nothing,  and 
as  all  men  and  things  are  in  the  same  vertiginous  situation 
you  can  neither  fix  yourself  nor  your  object  for  regular 
examination.  Hence  the  people  of  this  metropolis  are 
under  the  necessity  of  pronouncing  their  definitive  judg 
ment  from  the  first  glance  ;  and  being  thus  habituated  to 
shoot  flying,  they  have  what  the  sportsmen  call  a  quick 
sight.  They  know  a  wit  by  his  snuff-box,  a  man  of  taste  by 
his  bow,  and  a  statesman  by  the  cut  of  his  coat.  It  is  true 
that  like  other  sportsmen  they  sometimes  miss,  but  like 
other  sportsmen  they  have  a  thousand  excuses  besides 
the  want  of  skill.  The  fault,  you  know,  may  be  in  the 
dog  or  the  bird  or  the  powder  or  the  flint,  or  even  the 
gun,  without  mentioning  the  gunner. 

"We  are  at  present  in  a  fine   situation  for  what  the 


58  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

bucks  and  bloods  would  term  a  frolic  and  high  fun. 
The  ministers  have  disgusted  this  city  by  the  manner 
of  convoking  them  to  elect  their  representatives  for  the 
States-General,  and  at  the  same  time  bread  is  getting 
dearer.  So  that  when  the  people  assemble  on  Monday, 
Tuesday,  and  Wednesday  next,  what  with  hunger  and  dis 
content  the  least  spark  would  set  everything  in  a  flame. 
The  state  physicians  have,  by  way  of  antidote,  brought 
between  fifteen  and  twenty  thousand  regular  troops 
within  and  about  the  city  ;  so  that  at  any  rate  the  bans 
bourgeois  may  not  have  all  the  fun  to  themselves.  This 
measure  will  rather  tend  to  produce  than  to  prevent  a 
riot,  for  some  of  the  young  nobility  have  brought  them 
selves  to  an  active  faith  in  the  natural  equality  of  man 
kind,  and  spurn  at  everything  which  looks  like  re 
straint." 

"This  evening  [April  2oth]  while  I  am  taking  tea  in 
Madame  de  Flahaut's  salon,  the  Marquis  de  Boursac 
comes  in  fresh  from  the  elections.  He  has  been  very  busy 
all  day  in  traversing  the  views  of  the  ministry  in  the  elec 
tion  of  the  nobles,  and  thinks  with  success.  There  is  to  be 
a  meeting  to-morrow  morning  at  the  Provost's  of  Paris, 
to  decide  finally  what  they  shall  do.  Madame  goes  to 
make  her  visit  of  condolence  to  Madame  de  Guibert, 
whose  husband,  a  Neckerist,  is  dismissed  from  his  place 
in  the  War  Office,  at  which,  by  the  bye,  she  is  delighted, 
though  Madame  de  Guibert  will  not  be  so  well  pleased, 
notwithstanding  that  she  is  of  the  party  opposed  to  her 
husband.  Promise  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  return,  and  go 
to  M.  Millet's  ;*  sit  a  little  while  with  him  and  his  mis 
tress,  and  then  call  on  Madame  de  Corney.  She  is  in 
high  spirits  at  the  opposition  like  to  take  place  among  the 
nobles.  She  gives  me  an  anecdote  from  the  Baron  de 

*  One  of  the  partners  in  the  firm  of  Le  Coulteux  de  Cantaleu. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  59 

Breteuil,*  who  had  it  from  the  mouth  of  M.  Ma- 
chault,  a  minister.  The  King  and  Princes  have  united 
together  to  oppose  the  progress  of  liberty,  the  rapidity  of 
which  has  at  length  given  them  serious  alarm.  The  King 
applied  to  M.  Machault  to  be  premier,  which  he  de 
clined  on  account  of  his  age.  Was  asked  his  opinion  of 
M.  Necker.  *  I  don't  like  his  conduct,  but  I  think  it 
would  be  dangerous  to  dismiss  him  at  present.'  Madame 
de  Corney  presses  me  to  stay  to  supper,  but  I  decline,  tell 
ing  her  I  am  engaged  to  her  friend  the  Comtesse  de  Fla- 
haut,  which  she  of  course  admits  to  be  a  sufficient  reason. 
Go  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  Meet  the  Bishop  d'Autun.f 
Talk  more  politics  than  I  ought. 

"  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  if  the  Court  should  attempt 
now  to  recede,  it  is  impossible  to  conjecture  the  event. 
The  chiefs  of  the  patriotic  party  have  gone  so  far  that 
they  cannot  retreat  with  safety.  If  there  be  any  real  vigor 
in  the  nation  the  prevailing  party  in  the  States-General 
may,  if  they  please,  overturn  the  monarchy  itself,  should 
the  King  commit  his  authority  to  a  contest  with  them. 

*  Baron  de  Breteuil,  said  by  Madame  Campan  to  have  been  the  cause  of 
the  scandal  and  result  of  the  affair  of  the  diamond  necklace,  because  of  his 
hatred  for  the  Cardinal  de  Rohan.  The  Abbe  Vermond  threw  the  entire 
blame  on  him.  In  August,  1789,  he  was  nominated  to  fill  M.  Necker's  place 
in  the  Finances. 

t  Charles  Maurice  de  Talleyrand-Perigord,  Prince  of  Benevento,  a  cele 
brated  French  diplomatist  and  wit,  born  at  Paris,  February  13,  1754.  An 
accident  made  him  lame  for  life  ;  and,  in  consequence,  he  was  required  to  re 
sign  his  birthright  and  enter  the  church,  which  profession  was  very  distaste 
ful  to  him.  In  1788  he  became  Bishop  of  Autun,  and  in  1789  member  of  the 
States-General,  and,  enlisting  in  the  service  of  liberty  and  equality,  he  joined 
the  Third  Estate.  He  was  proscribed  by  Robespierre,  and  took  refuge  in 
the  United  States.  In  1799  he  co-operated  with  Bonaparte  in  the  revolution 
of  the  i8th  Brumaire.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  sarcastic  wit  and  exquisite 
tact,  his  coolness  and  sobriety,  and  "  masterly  inactivity."  He  resigned  from 
the  cabinet  of  Louis  XVIII.  because  he  would  not  sign  the  humiliating  treaty 
which  was  concluded  with  the  Allied  Powers.  He  died  at  Paris  in  May,  1838, 
leaving  memoirs  to  be  published  thirty  years  after  his  death. 


6O  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

The  Court  is  extremely  feeble,  and  the  manners  are  so 
extremely  corrupt  that  they  cannot  succeed  if  there  be 
any  consistent  opposition.  Unless  the  whole  nation  be 
equally  depraved,  the  probability,  I  think,  is  that  an  at 
tempt  to  retreat  at  this  late  period  of  the  business  will 
bring  the  Court  into  absolute  contempt." 

"  After  the  Com£die  Francaise  to-night  [April  2ist]  I  go 
to  Madame  de  Chastellux's,  and  she  gives  me  the  news 
from  Versailles.  M.  de  Vauguyon*  is  not  to  return  to 
Spain.  M.  de  la  Luzerne  is  to  go  there.  Hope  that 
M.  de  Segur  will  go  to  London.  The  nobles  of  Paris 
have  agreed  to  elect,  protesting  against  the  Regle- 
ment.  This  is  the  best  course  they  could  take.  Madame 
de  Chastellux  tells  me  that  the  Duchesse  d'Orl£ans  had 
left,  a  little  before  my  arrival,  a  message  for  me.  She 
wishes  me  to  see  her  son,  M.  de  Beaujolais." 

Morris  had  been  for  some  time  engaged  in  forming  a 
plan  of  finance  for  France.  It  had  been  translated  into 
French,  and  presented  to  M.  de  Malesherbes.  The  morn 
ing  of  Wednesday,  the  22d,  Morris  spent  with  Jeffer 
son,  discussing  the  question  of  the  finances  generally,  and 
particularly  the  plan  which  he  had  made.  "  Mr.  Jeffer 
son,"  he  says  (April  22d),  "likes  much  my  plan  of  finance. 
We  wait  till  after  four  for  Lafayette,  who  then  comes  in 
deshabille,  having  been  engaged  in  politics  till  that  mo 
ment.  The  business  we  believe  is  going  well.  I  advise 
that  the  Swiss  guards  should  be  removed  from  about  the 
King's  person  by  the  States-General,  and  a  compliment  be 
at  the  same  time  made  to  the  national  troops.  Mr.  Jeffer 
son  does  not  seem  to  think  this  important,  but  I  urge  it  to 
the  conviction  of  Lafayette.  He  wishes  to  have  our  opin 
ion  whether  he  should  take  a  great  part  in  the  debates  of 

*  The  Due  de  Vauguyon  had  been  the  governor  of  the  sons  of  the  Dauphin, 
who  became,  respectively,  Louis  XVI.,  Louis  XVIII.,  and  Charles  X. 


1798. J  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  6 1 

the  States-General.  We  agree  that  he  should  only  speak 
on  important  occasions.  Afterwards  Jefferson  and  I  .go 
to  the  Palais  Royal  to  get  our  profiles  taken."  [The 
semi-silhouette  substitute  for  the  photography  of  to- 
day.] 

'-  To-night  [April  24th]  at  supper  at  the  Baron  deBesen- 
val's,  we  are  told  of  an  express  announcing  the  Emperor's 
death,  and  then  again  that  he  is  not  dead.  It  appears, 
however,  that  he  is  not  long  for  this  world.  We  hear  a 
great  deal  also  about  the  disturbances  for  want  of  bread. 
These  give  pleasure  to  the  company  here,  who  are  all  ad 
verse  to  the  present  administration.  We  hear  also  that 
there  is  to  be  a  new  administration  ;  that  Monsieur  is  to 
be  the  chief,  and  all  the  present  ministers  are  to  go  out 
except  Necker.  This  arrangement  is  less  agreeable  to  the 
company  than  it  would  have  been  to  turn  out  Necker  and 
keep  the  rest.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  believe  in  a 
change  just  now.  Puisignieu  tells  me  that  the  States-Gen 
eral  will  quarrel  immediately  about  the  question  as  to  the 
votes,  whether  they  shall  be  given  par  ordre  or  par  tete. 
He  asserts  this  with  so  much  warmth  as  to  show  that  he 
wishes  it.  He  says,  further,  that  the  nation  is  incapable  of 
liberty  ;  that  they  can  bear  nothing  long  and  will  not  even 
stay  at  their  regiments  above  three  months.  Thus  he  takes 
the  noblesse  for  the  nation,  and  judges  the  noblesse  from 
those  members  who,  from  idleness  and  dissipation,  are  of 
the  least  consequence  in  revolutions  except,  indeed,  so  far 
as  their  numbers  are  concerned.  It  seems  the  general  posi 
tion  of  those  who  wish  the  King  to  be  everything  that  he 
must  inevitably  be  so  in  a  few  years,  let  the  nation  do 
what  it  will  in  the  present  moment.  In  fact,  the  revolu 
tionists  have  but  flimsy  materials  to  work  with,  and  unless 
some  greater  energy  of  character  should  result  from  their 
present  doings,  the  friends  of  despotism  must  succeed." 


62  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

"  All  this  morning  [April  25th]  I  am  employed  in  writ 
ing,  and  in  the  afternoon  go  to  dine  with  M.  Millet  and 
his  mistress,  the  Marquis  de  Brehan,  an  old  lady  and 
her  daughter,  beautiful  and  just  coming  forward,  one 
married  woman,  a  young  and  extremely  handsome  one, 
the  husband  of  the  former,  and  the  friend  of  the  latter, 
with  a  captain  in  the  navy,  who  like  myself  is  a  bachelor, 
and  a  young  man  I  know  not  who.  The  dinner  (a  la  matelote] 
and  the  guests  are  of  M.  Millet's  bespeaking.  After  des 
sert  we  are  entertained  by  an  old  woman  who  plays  on 
the  vielle  (hurdy  gurdy)  and  accompanies  her  instrument 
with  loose  songs,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  gentlemen, 
the  mother,  and  the  married  lady,  whose  husband  has  an 
exhausted,  disconsolate  air.  The  child  listens  with  infinite 
attention.  The  two  young  ladies  are  not  well  pleased. 
M.  Millet  proposes  another  such  party  for  next  week, 
which  we  agree  to.  He  is  to  order  the  dinner  and  consult 
us.  I  tell  him  it  shall  be  just  what  he  pleases,  but  that  we 
will,  if  he  pleases,  excuse  the  music.  From  thence  we  go 
to  the  Hotel  Royal  des  Invalides,  a  most  magnificent 
piece  of  architecture.  The  chapel  and  the  dome  are  sub 
lime.  In  the  kitchen  we  are  made  to  observe,  among 
other  things,  a  little  kettle  with  2,500  pounds  of  beef  for  to 
morrow's  soup  ;  another,  with  a  smaller  quantity,  for  mes 
sieurs  les  offiders.  A  spectacle  which  excited  the  great 
est  effect  in  my  mind  was  a  number  of  mutilated  veter 
ans  on  their  knees  in  the  chapel.  The  most  sincere  devo 
tion.  Poor  wretches !  they  have  no  hope  on  this  side  of 
the  grave.  The  women  went  on  their  knees  when  we 
came  near  the  sacristy.  At  M.  Millet's  suggestion,  I 
made  a  prayer  for  the  two  handsomest,  which  they  liked 
quite  as  well  as  any  in  the  Missal.  M.  Millet  tells  me 
that  he  heard  a  number  of  the  "invalides  "  expressing  their 
pity  that  so  fine  a  man  should  have  lost  his  lesr.  He  did 


I798-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  63 

not  perceive  me  give  one  of  them  a  crown,  or  he  would 
have  known  how  to  appreciate  the  compliment  and  the 
compassion." 

On  Sunday  (April  26th)  Morris  was  entertaining  a 
friend,  whereupon,  he  says,  "I  receive  to  my  great  surprise 
a  billet  from  a  lady  containing  a  declaration  of  love,  but 
anonymous.  I  write  an  ambiguous  answer  to  the  fair  in 
cognita  and  send  my  servant  Martin  to  dog  the  messen 
ger,  a  little  boy,  who  delivers  it  to  a  waiting-woman.  She 
goes  to  the  house  of  M.  Millet.  It  is  therefore  from  his 
mistress,  who  certainly  is  worth  attention.  In  the  even 
ing  I  call  on  Madame  Millet,  but  have  not  an  opportunity 
to  say  a  word  to  her  en  particulier.  Call  on  Madame  de 
Chastellux,  and  find  that  as  usual  the  Duchess  has  just  left 
her,  and  a  little  message  for  me.  There  is  something 
whimsical  in  this,  but  I  express  a  regret  on  the  subject. 
This  evening  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's  they  are  in  the 
midst  of  politics,  of  which  I  am  tired.  After  supper  the 
Bishop  of  Autun  reads  us  the  protest  of  the  nobles  and 
clergy  of  Brittany,  and  during  the  lecture  I  very  uncivilly 
fall  asleep.  Madame  is  not  well,  and  besides  has  met  with 
something  in  the  course  of  the  day  which  preys  upon  her 
spirits.  I  enquire  what  it  is  and  she  declines  telling  me, 
which  I  am  glad  of." 

Paris  was  astir  with  the  excitement  of  the  elections 
during  this  month  of  April.  On  the  2ist  the  "Electoral 
Assemblies  "  had  begun.  The  streets  were  full  of  electors 
of  each  degree.  Besides,  the  town  swarmed  with  beggars. 
Twenty  thousand  vagabonds  infested  the  capital,  sur 
rounded  the  palace,  and  filled  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  The 
government,  being  forced  thereto,  kept  twelve  thousand  of 
them  digging  on  the  hills  of  Montmartre  and  payed  them  20 
sous  a  day.  They  were  starving.  Bread  was  very  scarce. 
They  surrounded  the  bakers' shops  and  a  bitter  murmuring, 


64  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

gradually  growing  louder,  arose  from  them.  Irritated,  ex 
cited,  imaginative,  they  waited  for  some  excuse  for  action,, 
however  slight.  It  came  on  the  25th,  in  a  rumor  that  Re- 
veillon,  an  elector  and  manufacturer,  had  "  spoken  badly 
of  the  people  at  an  electoral  meeting."  What  he  actually 
said  no  one  knew  ;  that  he  was  a  just  man  all  knew  ;  what 
they  imagined  he  said  was  that  "a  man  and  his  wife  and  chil 
dren  could  live  on  fifteen  sous  a  day,"  and  he  was  a  traitor 
and  must  die.  All  day  Sunday  the  crowds,  idle  and  angry, 
had  time  to  talk  and  to  encourage  each  other  to  violence. 
On  Monday,  still  idle  and  drunk,  the  mob  began  to  move, 
armed  with  clubs.  Morris  mentions  going  out  to  see  the 
banker  Le  Coulteux.  "His  gate"  [April  2yth],  he  says, 
"  is  shut  and  all  the  shops  are  shut.  There  is,  it  seems,  a 
riot  in  Paris,  and  the  troops  are  at  work  somewhere,  which 
has  given  a  great  alarm  to  the  city.  I  believe  it  is  very 
trifling."  By  midnight  the  crowd  was  somewhat  dispersed, 
but  only  to  reassemble  with  renewed  energy  to  do  its  wild 
work  the  next  morning.  The  cause  of  the  "  Third  Estate  " 
was  what  they  had  come  to  defend,  and  not  even  when  they 
faced  the  cannon  and  saw  two  hundred  of  their  number 
killed  did  they  relinquish  their  firm  conviction  that  the 
cause  of  the  Third  Estate  was  righteous  and  would  pre 
vail. 

Meantime  the  society  of  the  Palais  Royal  in  Madame  de 
Chastellux's  salon  drank  their  tea  quietly,  and  talked  poli 
tics.  "Madame  de  Chastellux  tells  me,"  writes  Morris, 
"she  expects  the  Duchess  to-night.  I  therefore  stay  to 
meet  her  Royal  Highness.  She  comes  in  pretty  late,  is 
vastly  civil,  refers  to  her  several  messages,  extremely 
sorry  not  to  have  met  me,  etc.,  to  all  of  which  I  answer  as 
well  as  I  can.  In  effect,  it  goes  beyond  my  idea,  though  I 
must  from  necessity  adhere  to  my  original  interpretation. 
She  talks  a  good  deal  of  politics  with  her  friends  about  the 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  65 

assemblies,  etc.,  and  I  congratulate  her  on  this  employ 
ment  for  her  mind,  which  has  contributed  already  to  her 
health.  She  says  her  visit  must  be  very  short  ;  she  is  go 
ing  to  see  her  children.  She  came  in  late,  and  she  should 
not  have  made  the  visit,  but  to  see  me.  This  is  clearly 
persiflage,  but  it  would  be  vastly  uncivil  in  me  should  I 
appear  to  think  so." 

In  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Carmichael  on  the  27th,  men 
tion  is  made  of  a  visit  paid  to  M.  de  Montmorin,  who  re 
ceived  him  civilly,  but  indifferently.  He  says  :  "  Should 
the  intrigue  now  carrying  on  be  successful,  they  will  all 
be  turned  out,  and  then  I  will  cultivate  the  acquaint 
ance  of  M.  de  Montmorin,  for  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  is  too  much  occupied.  I  can  say  nothing  to  you 
about  the  politics  of  this  country.  I  know  I  write  under 
the  inspection  of  those  whose  hands  this  letter  may  pass 
through  in  both  kingdoms.  Besides,  there  is  nothing  that 
can  be  depended  on  till  the  States-General  shall  have 
been  some  time  assembled.  The  Emperor  is,  I  suppose,  by 
this  time  in  the  regions  of  the  departed.  This  country  is 
not  in  a  condition  to  send  an  army  of  observation  to  the 
Rhine,  and  of  course  her  ministers  will  be  but  little  at 
tended  to.  The  part  which  Britain  and  Prussia  may  take 
is  uncertain."  4 

"  On  the  way  to  see  M.  Millet  [April  28th]  I  see  some 
troops  marching  with  two  small  field  pieces  towards  the 
Faubourg  St.  Antoine.  It  seems  there  has  been  a  riot 
there.  Hear  at  M.  Millet's  a  terrible  account  of  it, 
which  certainly  is  exaggerated.  Later  I  find  that  the  riot 
has  been  pretty  serious."  But  the  French  theatre,  and  an 
endeavor  to  discover  if  Madame  Millet  was  the  fair  hero 
ine  of  the  anonymous  billets,  evidently  occupied  more  of 
Morris's  attention  than  the  riots.  "  It  would  seem,"  he 
says,  "  that  the  billets  are  not  from  her  and  that  I  am 
5 


66  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

egregiously  mistaken,  and  my  curiosity  is  strong."  M. 
Millet's  party,  planned  the  week  before,  was  fixed  for  the 
ist  of  May.  "  I  dress  and  go  to  M.  Millet's,  where 
the  party  are  to  meet.  Madame  is  waiting  for  her  bonnet, 
and  afterwards  we  wait  for  some  other  persons  of  the  com 
pany.  Proceed  to  the  Palais  de  Bourbon.  See  the  small 
apartments  and  garden.  They  are  very  beautiful.  From 
thence  we  go  to  the  cabaret,  and  dine  a  la  matelote— the 
same  company  we  had  last  week,  except  the  captain  in  the 
navy.  After  dinner,  the  women  propose  to  go  on  the 
Seine,  to  which  I  readily  agree.  We  shall  be  less  liable 
to  observation  there,  which,  considering  my  company,  is 
of  some  consequence.  M.  Millet  will  not  go  and  ma- 
dame  is  glad  to  get  rid  of  him,  which  he  seems  to  per 
ceive,  and  goes  home  alone  to  enjoy  the  reflection  which 
such  an  idea  cannot  fail  to  engender.  We  embark  in  a 
dirty  fishing  boat,  and  sit  on  dirty  boards  laid  across. 
Mademoiselle,  who  is  dressed  in  muslin  trimmed  with  hand 
some  lace,  adds  much  to  the  beauty  of  her  dress,  which  is 
completely  draggled.  Her  friend  seems  well  pleased  with 
my  attentions  to  her,  and  she  tries  to  be  modest,  but  apes 
the  character  badly.  After  descending  a  considerable  dis 
tance,  we  remount  to  the  Barriere  de  Chaillot,  but  from  a 
mistake  in  the  orders,  (which  has  been  the  loss  of  many 
battles)  our  carriages  are  not  to  be  found.  We  walk  to 
wards  town.  The  women,  as  wild  as  birds  let  out  of  a  cage, 
dispatch  the  men  different  ways,  but  yet  no  news  of  our 
equipages.  Cross  the  river,  and  go  to  look  for  them  where 
we  dined.  Not  finding  them,  we  return  to  recross  it. 
Meet  a  servant,  who  tells  me  that  carriages  are  at  the 
Grille  Chaillot.  We  recross.  The  scow  is  taken  over  by 
the  course  of  the  current,  a  rope  being  extended  across  the 
river,  and  a  pulley  moving  to  and  fro  along  it,  to  which 
pulley  the  boat  is  connected  by  a  strong  rope,  and  that 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  6/ 

end  of  the  rope  which  is  fastened  to  the  boat  moves  by 
means  of  a  loop  sliding  along  a  bar  at  the  gunwale  such 
a  distance  towards  the  end  of  the  scow  from  the  centre  as 
to  present  the  side  of  the  vessel  to  the  current,  in  an  angle 
of  about  forty-five  degrees.  By  this  means  the  scow  is 
carried  over  with  considerable  velocity.  After  waiting 
some  time  for  the  carriages  (during  which  time  the  women 
amuse  themselves  with  running  about),  they  at  length 
arrive,  and  I  come  home.  Dress  and  go  to  Madame  de 
Flahaut's.  A  large  company,  a  great  deal  of  politics,  and 
some  play.  I  do  not  get  home  till  one,  having  set  down  a 
gentleman  who  was  unprovided  of  a  carriage.  Then  I 
sit  and  read  till  near  two,  and  go  to  bed,  heartily  fatigued 
with  the  day's  amusement,  if  I  may  give  that  name  to 
things  which  did  not  amuse  me  at  all.  I  incline  to  think 
that  Madame  Roselle  is  my  unknown  correspondent,  and 
I  do  not  care  sixpence  who  it  is." 

On  the  29th  of  April  Morris  wrote  to  General  Washing 
ton  giving  him  a  description  of  M.  de  Lafayette's  suc 
cess  in  his  political  campaign  in  Auvergne.  "  He  had  to 
contend,"  he  says,  "with  the  prejudices  and  the  interests  of 
his  order,  and  with  the  influence  of  the  Queen  and  Princes, 
(except  the  Duke  of  Orleans)  but  he  was  too  able  for  his 
opponent.  He  played  the  orator  with  as  much  eclat  as  ever 
he  acted  the  soldier,  and  is  at  this  moment  as  much  envied 
and  hated  as  ever  his  heart  could  wish.  He  is  also  much 
beloved  by  the  nation,  for  he  stands  forward  as  one  of  the 
principal  champions  for  her  rights.  The  elections  are  fin 
ished  throughout  this  kingdom,  except  in  the  capital,  and 
it  appears  from  the  instructions  given  to  the  representa 
tives  (called  here  les  cahiers]  that  certain  points  are  uni 
versally  demanded,  which  when  granted  and  secured  will 
render  France  perfectly  free  as  to  the  principles  of  the 
constitution — I  say  principles,  for  one  generation  at  least 


68  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

will  be  required  to  render  the  practice  familiar.  We  have, 
I  think,  every  reason  to  wish  that  the  patriots  may  be  suc 
cessful.  The  generous  wish  which  a  free  people  must 
form  to  disseminate  freedom,  the  grateful  emotion  which 
rejoices  in  the  happiness  of  a  benefactor,  and  a  strong 
personal  interest  as  well  in  the  liberty  as  in  the  power  of 
this  country,  all  conspire  to  make  us  far  from  indifferent 
spectators.  I  say  that  we  have  an  interest  in  the  liberty  of 
France.  The  leaders  here  are  our  friends  ;  many  of  them 
have  imbibed  their  principles  in  America,  and  all  have 
been  fired  by  our  example.  Their  opponents  are  by  no 
means  rejoiced  at  the  success  of  our  Revolution,  and  many 
of  them  are  disposed  to  form  connections  of  the  strictest 
kind  with  Great  Britain.  The  commercial  treaty  emanated 
from  such  dispositions,  and,  according  to  the  usual  course 
of  those  events  which  are  shaped  by  human  wisdom,  it  will 
probably  produce  the  exact  reverse  of  what  was  intended 
by  the  projectors.  The  spirit  of  this  nation  is  at  present 
high,  and  M.  Necker  is  very  popular,  but  if  he  continues 
long  in  administration  it  will  be  somewhat  wonderful. 
His  enemies  are  numerous,  able,  and  inveterate.  His  sup 
porters  are  uncertain  as  to  his  fate,  and  will  protect  him 
no  longer  than  while  he  can  aid  in  establishing  a  con 
stitution.  But  when  once  that  great  business  is  accom 
plished  he  will  be  left  to  stand  on  his  own  ground.  The 
Court  wish  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  unless  he  shows  very 
strong  in  the  States-General  they  will  gratify  their 
wishes.  His  ability  as  a  minister  will  be  much  contested 
in  that  assembly,  but  with  what  success  time  only  can 
determine. 

"The  materials  for  a  revolution  in  this  country  are  very 
indifferent.  Everybody  agrees  that  there  is  an  utter  pros 
tration  of  morals — but  this  general  position  can  never 
convey  to  the  American  mind  the  degree  of  depravity. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  69 

It  is  not  by  any  figure  of  rhetoric,  or  force  of  language, 
that  the  idea  can  be  communicated.  An  hundred  anec 
dotes  and  an  hundred  thousand  examples  are  required  to 
show  the  extreme  rottenness  of  every  member.  There  are 
men  and  women  who  are  greatly  and  eminently  virtuous. 
I  have  the  pleasure  to  number  many  in  my  own  acquaint 
ance,  but  they  stand  forward  from  a  background  deep 
ly  and  darkly  shaded.  It  is,  however,  from  such  crum 
bling  matter  that  the  great  edifice  of  freedom  is  to  be 
erected  here.  Perhaps,  like  the  stratum  of  rock  which  is 
spread  under  the  whole  surface  of  their  country,  it  may 
harden  when  exposed  to  the  air,  but  it  seems  quite  as  like 
ly  that  it  will  fall  and  crush  the  builders.  I  own  to  you 
that  I  am  not  without  such  apprehensions,  for  there  is  one 
fatal  principle  which  pervades  all  ranks.  It  is  a  perfect 
indifference  to  the  violation  of  all  engagements.  Incon 
stancy  is  so  mingled  in  the  blood,  marrow,  and  every  essence 
of  this  people,  that  when  a  man  of  high  rank  and  impor 
tance  laughs  to-day  at  what  he  seriously  asserted  yester 
day,  it  is  considered  as  in  the  natural  order  of  things. 
Consistency  is  the  phenomenon.  Judge  then  what  would 
be  the  value  of  an  association  should  such  a  thing  be  pro 
posed,  and  even  adopted.  The  great  mass  of  the  people 
have  no  religion  but  their  priests,  no  law  but  their  superi 
ors,  no  morals  but  their  interest.  These  are  the  creatures 
who,  led  by  drunken  curates,  are  now  in  the  high-road  a  la 
Liberte,  and  the  first  use  they  make  of  it  is  to  form  insur 
rections  everywhere  for  the  want  of  bread.  We  have  had  a 
little  riot  here  yesterday  and  the  day  before,  and  I  am 
told  that  some  men  have  been  killed,  but  the  affair  was  so 
distant  from  the  quarter  in  which  I  reside  that  I  know 
nothing  of  the  particulars." 

By  the   ist  of  May  the  elections  in  Paris  were  nearly 
over  and  the  first  victory  of  the  people  gained  in  the  de- 


7O  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

cision  of  the  Government  that  the  Third  Estate  should 
have  a  representation  equal  in  numbers  to  that  of  the 
orders  of  the  nobles  and  clergy  combined.  On  Sunday, 
May  3rd,  the  Court  and  clergy  at  Versailles  awaited  the 
result  of  the  audience  to  be  given  to  the  deputies  on  Mon 
day.  A  superb  day  dawned — Talleyrand  says,  "  A  heav 
enly  day."  The  beautiful  lawn  of  the  palace  was  crowded 
with  groups  of  gayly  dressed  officers  and  high  dignita 
ries  of  the  church,  each  wearing  the  brilliant  tokens  of 
his  rank.  Ladies  decked  in  the  brightest  colors  and 
wearing  the  happiest  smiles  talked,  sauntered  about,  and 
sat  on  the  stone  benches  along  the  alleys  underneath  the 
delicate  spring  foliage.  In  striking  contrast  to  these  were 
the  groups  of  the  members  of  the  Third  Estate — shunned 
as  if  they  bore  the  seeds  of  a  pestilence  among  them. 
They  talked  in  whispers,  hurriedly  and  earnestly — they 
never  smiled.  Their  costume  of  black  hose  and  surtout 
and  short  black  cloak,  to  which  they  had  been  condemned 
by  the  old  sumptuary  laws  and  which  denoted  the  ple 
beian,  made  the  contrast  even  greater.  Proudly  they 
carried  themselves  in  this  dress,  but  on  their  faces  were 
care  and  gloomy  foreboding,  and  a  sudden  ominous  silence 
fell  upon  them  whenever  a  stray  member  of  the  noblesse 
happened  to  pass  near. 

On  a  balcony  of  the  palace  was  the  queen,  surrounded 
by  a  bevy  of  beauties  of  the  Court,  all  in  high  spirits,  dis 
cussing  the  pageant  of  to-morrow,  which  to  them  had  an 
interest  almost  solely  spectacular,  just  as  they  valued  the 
Salle  des  Menus  as  a  room  where  their  beauty  could  be  seen 
to  the  best  advantage  because  it  was  lighted  from  above. 
Mr.  Morris  speaks  of  visiting  Madame  de  Lafayette  and 
finding  that  "  they  are  on  the  move  to  Versailles.  Lafay 
ette  is  already  there  to  pay  his  respects  in  quality  of  rep 
resentative.  I  go  and  sit  a  while  with  Madame  de  Puisi- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  /I 

gnieu  at  her  toilet.  Then  go  to  see  Madame  de  Segur, 
and  amuse  myself  with  the  children,  and  leave  her  at  her 
toilet,  to  meet  her  again  to-night  at  Madame  de  Puisi- 
gnieu's,  and  she  tells  me  she  will  stay  the  whole  evening  in 
consequence  of  my  being  there  instead  of  keeping  another 
engagement.  .  .  .  During  the  evening  a  gentleman  enter 
tains  the  ladies  with  the  description  of  the  hanging  match 
last  Thursday.  He  is  colonel  of  a  regiment  which  was  on 
duty  to  attend  the  execution.  We  drink  a  great  deal  of 
weak  tea,  which  Madame  de  la  Suze  says  very  justly  is  du 
lait  coupe.  Madame  de  Segur  comes  in  while  the  com 
pany  are  at  supper,  and  I  tell  her  very  truly  that  I  was 
just  going  away  but  will  now  stay.  The  conversation  in 
our  corner  turns  as  usual  upon  politics,  and  among  other 
things  on  the  want  of  grain.  M.  Necker  is  a  good  deal 
blamed,  but  in  my  opinion  very  undeservedly.  One  fool 
ish  thing  has  indeed  been  committed,  and  that  is  the  only 
one  which  they  do  not  find  fault  with.  It  is  the  order  for 
searching  the  barns  of  the  farmers.  The  riot,  also,  is  dis 
missed.  The  Baron  de  Besenval,  who  gave  the  order  for 
quelling  it,  seems  vastly  pleased  with  his  work.  He  or 
dered,  it  seems,  two  pieces  of  cannon  with  the  Swiss  guards, 
and  when  preparations  were  made  for  firing  them  the  mob 
took  to  their  heels.  It  is  therefore  agreed  that  the  Baron 
is  a  great  general — and  as  the  women  say  so  it  would  be 
folly  and  madness  to  controvert  their  opinion.  If  I  were 
a  military  man  I  should  incline  to  think  that  two  four- 
pounders  could  not  be  of  much  use  in  a  city  like  this, 
where  the  streets  are  in  general  so  narrow  as  only  to  per 
mit  two  carriages  to  go  abreast,  where  the  same  narrow 
streets  are  very  crooked,  and  where  the  houses  are  in  gen 
eral  four  to  six  stories  of  stone  walls.  But  as  I  am  not 
versed  in  the  art  of  war  it  is  my  duty  to  agree  with  the 
rest  that  a  man  must  indeed  be  a  great  general  who,  with 


72  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

only  1,500  troops,  infantry  and  cavalry,  and,  above  all,  with 
only  two  pieces  of  artillery,  could  disperse  ten  or  fifteen 
thousand,  chiefly  spectators,  but  the  seditious,  to  the 
amount  of  three  thousand,  completely  armed  with  sticks 
and  stones." 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  to-day  [May  3d]  tells  me  of  a  billet  for  the 
audience  to-morrow  which  Madame  de  Tesse  reserves  for 
Mr.  Short,  and  which  he  will  get  for  me  as  Short  cannot  be 
here.  I  urge  on  M.  de  Lafayette,  who  dines  with  us,  the 
election  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  give  my  reasons  for 
it.  He  tells  me  he  will  be  elected.  Mention  to  him  a  way 
of  placing  M.  Necker  advantageously,  which  he  thinks 
would  be  very  useful.  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux,  who 
is  so  kind  as  to  bring  me  the  form  of  the  ceremonial  of 
to-morrow  from  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  message.  If  she  can,  will  pay  a  visit.  Madame  de 
Chastellux  proposes  to  obtain  through  her  a  ticket  for  the 
audience  for  me.  M.  le  Marechal  de  Segur  comes  in. 
After  some  conversation,  a  message  from  the  Duchess. 
She  cannot  visit  this  evening,  being  too  much  engaged  in 
writing.  I  come  home  to  go  early  to  bed,  as  I  must  set 
off  early  to-morrow  for  Versailles." 

On  Monday,  May  4th,  the  grand  procession  of  the  depu 
ties  to  the  States-General  formed  and  defiled  through  the 
streets  of  Versailles  to  the  Church  of  St.  Louis.  The  same 
costumes  were  enforced  as  in  the  last  States-General, 
more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  years  before,  and  the 
same  etiquette,  but  it  was  the  last  gala  day  of  the  old 
monarchy.  All  ranks  and  classes  were  astir  this  morning. 
All  turned  their  faces  toward  Versailles — the  goal  of  all 
their  hopes.  Morris  was  among  the  number.  He  says  : 
11  At  six  this  morning  I  set  off  for  Versailles.  Am  over 
taken  on  the  road  by  M.  le  Normand  and  M.  La  Caze. 
We  alight  and  walk  together  through  the  streets  till  the 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  73 

procession  commences,  except  a  little  while  that  I  sit  with 
Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  was  so  kind  as  to  send  and  offer 
me  part  of  a  window.  While  we  wait  for  the  procession 
the  conversation  turns  on  the  bal  de  1'opera.  M.  de  la 
Ville  Blanche  tells  me  a  story  somewhat  characteristic  of 
national  manners.  His  wife  and  a  lady,  her  friend,  went 
thither  together.  After  a  while  they  separated,  and,  meet 
ing  again,  conversed  a  long  time,  the  lady  being  perfectly 
ignorant  who  the  person  was  whom  he  had  picked  up,  for 
she  was  with  him.  After  the  ball  was  over  and  all  three 
had  got  home,  they  rallied  the  friend  for  being  so  taken 
in.  She  could  give  no  other  reason  for  being  so  much  de 
ceived,  but  that  madame  was  in  company  with  monsieur 
and  therefore  she  could  not  possibly  suppose  it  was  his 
wife." 

While  the  lookers-on  thoughtlessly  talked,  laughed,  and 
joked,  careless  of  all  but  the  gay  scene,  the  procession 
moved  on.  The  nobles  glittered  in  gorgeous  dresses  and 
orders.  The  bishops,  superb  in  violet  robes,  were  followed 
by  their  humble  cures  in  modest  garb.  The  Commons  were 
in  black  mantles,  very  plain,  and  hats  without  feathers. 
Louis  XVI. ,  beautiful  Marie  Antoinette,  with  her  rnaids 
of  honor  and  the  brilliant  Court,  completed  the  pict 
ure.  Morris  says:  "The  procession  is  very  magnificent, 
through  a  double  row  of  tapestry.  Neither  the  King  nor 
Queen  appears  too  well  pleased.  The  former  is  repeatedly 
saluted  as  he  passes  along  with  the  Vive  le  Roi,  but  the  latter 
meets  not  a  single  acclamation.  She  looks,  however,  with 
contempt  on  the  scene  in  which  she  acts  a  part  and  seems 
to  say  :  '  For  the  present  I  submit  but  I  shall  have  my  time/ 
I  find  that  my  conjecture  as  to  the  Queen's  temper  and  the 
King's  is  right,  when  I  make  a  short  visit  in  the  salon  of 
Madame  de  Chastellux  later,  and,  as  she  is  going  to  the 
Duchess,  she  tells  me  that  the  King  was  vexed  that  the 


74  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

Duke  of  Orleans*  should  walk  as  representative  and  not 
as  prince  of  the  blood,  and  also  that  his  consort  received 
no  mark  of  public  satisfaction.  She  was  exceedingly 
hurt.  Her  conversation  on  meeting  the  Duchess  of  Orleans, 
who,  as  well  as  the  Duke,  had  been  repeatedly  applauded : 
'  Madame,  il  y  a  une  demi-heure  que  je  vous  ai  attendue 
chez  moi.'  '  Madame,  en  vous  attendant  ici  (at  the  Church 
of  Notre  Dame),  j'ai  obei  a  1'ordre  qu'on  m'a  envoye  de  la 
part  du  Roi.'  '  Eh  bien,  madame,  je  n'ai  point  de  place 
pour  vous,  comme  vous  n'etes  pas  venue.'  'C'est  juste, 
madame.  Aussi,  ai-je  des  voitures  a  moi  qui  m'attendent.' 
I  cannot  help  feeling  the  mortification  the  poor  Queen 
meets  with,  for  I  see  only  the  woman,  and  it  seems  un 
manly  to  treat  a  woman  with  unkindness.  Madame  de 
Chastellux  tells  me  a  sprightly  reply  of  Madame  Adelaide, 
the  King's  aunt,  who,  when  the  Queen  in  a  fit  of  resentment, 
speaking  of  this  nation,  said,  *  Ces  indignes  Francais ! ' 
exclaimed,  '  Dites  indignes,  madame.'  The  Duchess  of 
Orleans  could  not  get  a  billet  for  me,  but  the  Duchesse  de 
Bourbon  has  promised  to  try,  and  if  she  succeeds  will  send 
it  to  the  Palais  Royal  this  evening,  and  in  that  case  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux  will  receive  it  from  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  and  send  it  to  me.  Return  home,  receive  a  note 
from  Mr.  Jefferson  assuring  me  that  I  can  get  a  ticket 
from  Madame  de  Tesse  who  has  reserved  one  for  Mr. 
Short,  who  is  not  arrived.  This  has  been  so  fine  a  day 
that  walking  about  without  my  hat  has  got  my  face 
scorched  exceedingly,  and  both  my  forehead  and  eyes  are 
inflamed." 

The  5th  of  May,  the  day  long  looked  for,  had  come,  and 
royalty  welcomed  the  national  estates  with  all  pomp  and 

*  Duke  of  Orleans,  cousin  of  the  king  and  afterward  the  celebrated  revo 
lutionary  Philippe  Egalite.  Never  a  favorite  of  the  queen,  he  was  tolerated 
at  Court  only  on  account  of  his  wife. 


1789-1  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 


75 


splendor  in  the  great  Salle  des  Menus.  The  king,  with 
his  ministers  of  state  in  front,  the  queen  and  princes  of 
the  blood  at  his  side,  sat  on  a  magnificent  throne  of  pur 
ple  and  gold.  Morris  says  he  reached  Versailles  early, 
and  at  a  little  after  eight  got  into  the  hall.  "  I  sit  there  in 
a  cramped  situation  till  after  twelve,  during  which  time  the 
different  members  are  brought  in  and  placed,  one  '  bail- 
liage '  after  the  other.  When  M.  Necker  comes  in  he  is 
loudly  and  repeatedly  clapped,  and  so  is  the  Duke  of  Or 
leans  ;  also  a  Bishop  who  has  long  lived  in  his  diocese, 
and  practised  there  what  his  profession  enjoins.  Another 
Bishop,  who  preached  yesterday  a  sermon  which  I  did 
not  hear,  is  applauded,  but  those  near  me  say  that  this  ap 
plause  is  unmerited.  An  old  man  who  refused  to  dress  in 
the  costume  prescribed  for  the  Tiers,  and  who  appears  in 
his  farmer's  habit,  receives  a  long  and  loud  plaudit.  M. 
de  Mirabeau  is  hissed,  though  not  loudly.  The  King  at 
length  arrives,  and  takes  his  seat  ;  the  Queen  on  his  left, 
two  steps  lower  than  him.  He  makes  a  short  speech, 
very  proper,  and  well  spoken  or  rather  read.  The  tone 
and  manner  have  all  the  fierte  which  can  be  expected  or 
desired  from  the  blood  of  the  Bourbons.  He  is  interrupt 
ed  in  the  reading  by  acclamations  so  warm  and  of  such 
lively  affection  that  the  tears  start  from  my  eyes  in  spite 
of  myself.  The  Queen  weeps  or  seems  to  weep,  but  not 
one  voice  is  heard  to  wish  her  well.  I  would  certainly 
raise  my  voice  if  I  were  a  Frenchman  ;  but  I  have  no 
right  to  express  a  sentiment,  and  in  vain  solicit  those  who 
are  near  me  to  do  it.  After  the  King  has  spoken  he  takes 
off  his  hat,  and  when  he  puts  it  on  again  his  nobles  imi 
tate  his  example.  Some  of  the  Tiers  do  the  same,  but 
by  degrees  they  take  them  off  again.  The  King  then  takes 
off  his  hat.  The  Queen  seems  to  think  it  wrong,  and  a 
conversation  seems  to  pass  in  which  the  King  tells  her  he 


76  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  ill. 

chooses  to  do  it  whether  consistent  or  not  consistent  with 
the  ceremonial  ;  but  I  could  not  swear  to  this,  being  too 
far  distant  to  see  very  distinctly,  much  less  to  hear.  The 
nobles  uncover  by  degrees,  so  that,  if  the  ceremonial  re 
quires  three  manoeuvres,  the  troops  are  not  yet  properly 
drilled.  After  the  King's  speech  and  the  covering  and 
uncoverings,  the  Garde  des  Sceaux  makes  one  much 
longer,  but  it  is  delivered  in  a  very  ungraceful  manner, 
and  so  indistinctly  that  nothing  can  be  judged  of  it  by 
me — until  it  is  in  print.  When  he  has  done,  M.  Necker 
rises.  He  tries  to  play  the  orator,  but  he  plays  it  very  ill. 
The  audience  salute  him  with  a  long,  loud  plaudit.  Ani 
mated  by  their  approbation,  he  falls  into  action  and  em 
phasis,  but  a  bad  accent  and  an  ungraceful  manner  de 
stroy  much  of  the  effect  which  ought  td  follow  from  a 
composition  written  by  M.  Necker  and  spoken  by  M. 
Necker.  He  presently  asks  the  King's  leave  to  employ  a 
clerk,  which  being  granted,  the  clerk  proceeds  in  the  lect 
ure.  It  is  very  long.  It  contains  much  information  and 
many  things  very  fine,  but  it  is  too  long,  and  has  many 
repetitions  and  too  much  compliment,  and  what  the  French 
call  emphase.  The  plaudits  were  loud,  long,  and  incessant. 
These  will  convince  the  King  and  Queen  of  the  national  sen 
timent,  and  tend  to  prevent  the  intrigue  against  the  pres 
ent  administration,  at  least  for  a  while.  After  the  speech 
is  over  the  King  rises  to  depart,  and  receives  a  long  and 
affecting  Vive  le  roi.  The  Queen  rises,  and  to  my  great 
satisfaction  she  hears  for  the  first  time  in  several  months 
the  sound  of,  Vive  la  Reine.  She  makes  a  low  courtesy  and 
this  produces  a  louder  acclamation,  and  that  a  lower  cour 
tesy.  As  soon  as  I  can  disengage  myself  from  the  crowd, 
I  find  my  servant  and  I  go  where  my  carriage  put  up,  in 
order  to  proceed  to  Paris,  being  tolerably  hungry  and  not 
inclined  to  ask  anyone  for  a  dinner,  as  I  am  convinced 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  77 

that  more  such  requests  will  be  made  this  day  than  will  be 
agreeable  to  those  who  have  dinners  to  bestow.  I  find 
that  my  horses  are  not  harnessed,  and  that  I  am  at  a  trai- 
teur's.  I  ask  for  dinner,  and  am  shown  into  a  room 
where  there  is  a  table  d'hote,  and  some  of  the  Tiers  are  sat 
down  to  it.  We  enter  into  conversation,  talk  of  the  man 
ner  of  voting.  Tell  them  that  I  think  when  their  new 
constitution  is  formed  it  will  be  well  for  them  to  vote/^r 
ordre,  but  in  forming  it  to  vote  par  tete.  Those  who  best 
understand  the  thing  incline  to  this  opinion,  but  they  are 
from  Brittany,  and  one  of  them  inveighs  so  strongly 
against  the  tyranny  of  the  nobles,  and  attacks  his  brother 
so  warmly,  that  the  others  come  about,  and  one,  a  noble 
representing  the  Tiers,  is  so  vociferous  against  his  order 
that  I  am  convinced  he  meant  to  rise  by  his  eloquence, 
and  finally  will,  I  expect,  vote  with  the  opinion  of  the 
Court,  let  that  be  what  it  may.  I  rise,  wish  them  very  sin 
cerely  a  perfect  accord  and  good  understanding  with  each 
other,  and  set  off  for  Paris." 

A  week  later  the  weather  grew  hot,  and  the  dust  and 
dirt  became  unbearable  ;  even  the  garden  of  the  Palais 
Royal  "is,"  says  Morris,  "as  dusty  as  a  highway  and 
absolutely  intolerable."  Of  the  other  intolerable  nui 
sances  of  the  Palais  Royal,  the  lawlessness  and  vice,  and 
the  oratorical  efforts  of  the  agitators,  Morris  makes 
little  mention  ;  but  evidently  Paris  had  lost  some  of  its 
attraction,  and,  glad  to  escape  from  it  to  the  cool  of  the 
country,  he  went  to  the  home  of  M.  Le  Coulteux.  "The 
country  through  which  I  drive  to  reach  Lucennes,"  he 
says  (May  9th),  "  is  highly  cultivated,  and  on  the  sides  of  the 
hills  under  the  fruit  trees  I  observe  currant  and  goose 
berry  bushes,  also  grape  vines.  Probably  this  mode  of  cul 
tivating  the  vine  would  succeed  in  America.  M.  Le  Coul- 
teux's  house  was  formerly  the  property  of  a  prince  of 


78  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

Conde,  built  in  the  old  style  but  tolerably  convenient,  and 
the  situation  delicious.  His  mother  and  sister  arrive  in 
the  evening,  and  his  cousin  De  Canteleu.  The  Tiers  con 
tinue  to  meet  and  to  do  nothing,  as  they  are  desirous  of 
voting  par  tete,  and  the  other  orders  do  not  join  them. 
Sunday  morning  [May  loth]  we  drive  to  the  aqueduct  of 
Marli  and  ascend  to  the  top.  The  view  is  exquisite — the 
Seine  winding  along  through  a  valley  very  highly  culti 
vated,  innumerable  villages,  at  a  distance  the  domes  of 
Paris  on  one  side,  the  Palace  of  St.  Germain,  very  near, 
on  the  other,  a  vast  forest  behind  and  the  Palace  of 
Marli  in  the  front  of  it  embowered  in  a  deep  shade,  the 
bells  from  a  thousand  steeples  at  different  distances  mur 
muring  through  the  air,  the  fragrance  of  the  morning, 
the  vernal  freshness  of  the  air — oh,  how  delicious  !  I 
stand  this  moment  on  a  vast  monument  of  human  pride, 
and  behold  every  gradation  from  wretchedness  to  mag 
nificence  in  the  scale  of  human  existence.  We  breakfast 
between  ten  and  eleven,  and  walk  over  the  garden,  and 
upon  our  return  ride  to  Marli.  The  garden  is  truly  royal, 
and  yet  pleasing,  the  house  tolerable,  the  furniture  in 
different.  We  are  told  by  the  Swiss  that  they  are  prepar 
ing  for  His  Majesty's  reception.  Return  to  the  house  of 
M.  L.  Le  Coulteux  and  dress.  On  entering  the  salon  our 
company  is  increased  by  the  representatives  of  Normandy. 
We  had  already  received  an  accession  of  a  banker  and  his 
two  sisters  at  breakfast.  At  dinner  we  have  a  political 
conversation  which  I  continue  with  the  Normans  after 
dinner,  and  we  finally  agree  in  our  opinions.  Discuss,  by 
way  of  an  episode,  the  propriety  of  an  India  company. 
This  afternoon  we  visit  the  Pavilion  of  Madame  du  Barry.* 

*  After  Louis  XV.  died  the  young  King  Louis  XVI  pensioned  Madame 
du  Barry,  besides  allowing  her  the  free  use  of  her  ill-gotten  wealth.  She 
was  excluded  from  appearing  at  Court  and  virtually  exiled  from  Paris  to  the 
"Chateau  aux  Dames."  His  forbearance  was  noticed  by  her  following  as 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  79 

This  temple  is  consecrated  to  the  immorality  of  Louis 
Quinze.  It  is  in  fine  taste  and  the  finish  is  exquisite  ; 
the  view  most  delightful,  and  yet  very  extensive.  In  re 
turning  from  thence  we  see  Madame  du  Barry.  She  is 
long  passed  the  day  of  beauty,  and  is  accompanied  by  an 
old  coxcomb,  the  Prevot  des  Marchands.*  They  bend 
their  course  towards  the  Pavilion,  perhaps  to  worship  on 
those  altars  which  the  sovereign  raised.  From  the  Pa 
vilion  we  ascend  the  hill  and  go  between  the  house  and 
the  fishpond,  which  smells  abominably,  to  see  the  villagers 
dance.  Returned  to  the  house  I  have  a  talk  with  Laurejit 
Le  Coulteux  on  the  subject  of  the  purchase  of  the  debt 
due  to  France.  He  wishes  me  to  have  an  interview  with 
M.  Necker.  This  matter  has  hitherto  met  with  great 
obstacles  and  difficulties,  from  the  peculiar  temper  of  M. 
Necker,  who  is  what  may  be  called  a  cunning  man,  and 
therefore  those  acquainted  with  him  do  not  choose  to 
come  forward  at  once  openly,  because  they  are  certain 
that  he  would  first  assume  the  merit  of  having  previously 
known  everything  which  they  communicate,  and,  secondly, 
would  take  advantage  of  such  communications  to  defeat 
their  object  if  he  could  get  by  any  means  any  better  terms 
from  others  to  whom  he  should  start  the  idea.  To  deal 
with  such  a  person  requires  caution  and  delicacy.  Lau 
rent  says  he  cannot  get  M.  Necker  to  finish  the  business 
they  already  have  to  do  with  him,  but  will,  if  I  please,  get 
me  an  interview  with  him.  He  thinks  it  must  be  man 
aged  merely  as  a  matter  of  finance,  in  which  I  own  that 
my  opinion  has  from  the  first  accorded  with  his.  I  take 

more  than  could  have  been  expected  by  her,  owing  to  the  levity  with  which 
she  had  always  treated  the  Dauphin. 

*  The  Prevots  des  Marchands  were  officers  of  the  highest  antiquity.  The 
appointment  was  made  by  the  king,  sometimes  for  two  years,  or  renewed 
every  year  at  his  pleasure,  and  their  jurisdiction  extended  over  the  revenues 
of  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  the  quays  and  wharves  of  the  river. 


So  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

M.  Laurent  with  me,  and  on  our  return  to  Paris  he  vents 
a  good  deal  of  ill  humor  on  M.  Necker,  who  has  kept  him 
a  long  time  in  play  and  now,  as  he  suspects,  (I  believe 
with  truth)  keeps  De  Canteleu  in  the  same  position.  He 
tells  me  that  their  object  is  to  get  an  order  for  money 
acknowledgedly  due.  He  has  an  invitation  to  dine  with 
M.  Necker  and  is  then,  if  the  conversation  be  turned  upon 
that  topic,  to  recommend  to  M.  Necker  an  interview  with 
me.  After  a  pleasant  ride  of  two  hours  we  reach  Paris." 

Back  again  in  Paris,  the  old  routine  commenced,  writ 
ing,  receiving  innumerable  visitors,  and  making  calls  in 
return.  "In  the  evening  [May  nth]  I  go,"  he  says,  "and 
sit  with  Madame  de  Chastellux.  She  receives  a  message 
from  the  Duchess  and  sends  her  answer  that  I  am  with 
her,  and  have  charged  her  with  a  commission,  etc.  This 
is  to  make  my  thanks  for  her  Royal  Highness's  kind  at 
tention  in  sending  to  Versailles  for  a  ticket  of  admission 
to  the  opening  of  the  States-General.  In  a  few  minutes 
she  comes  in,  tells  me  that  she  came  on  purpose  to  see  me, 
observes  that  I  have  been  out  of  town,  hopes  to  see  me 
frequently  at  Madame  de  Chastellux's,  is  sorry  the  pres 
ent  visit  must  be  so  short,  but  is  going  with  Madame  de 
Chastellux  to  take  a  ride  and  make  some  visits.  To  all 
this  I  can  make  no  reply,  but  by  look  and  manner  expres 
sive  of  deep  humility  and  a  grateful  sense  of  the  honor 
done  to  me.  In  fact,  my  tongue  has  never  been  sufficiently 
practised  in  this  jargon,  and  always  asks  my  heart  what 
it  shall  say,  and  while  this  last,  after  deliberation,  refers  to 
my  head  for  counsel,  the  proper  moment  has  passed.  As 
I  think  I  understand  her  Royal  Highness,  and  arn  toler 
ably  safe  on  the  side  of  vanity,  there  remains  but  one  port 
to  guard,  and  that  is  shut  up.  She  has  perhaps  the  hand 
somest  arm  in  France,  and  from  habit  takes  off  her  glove, 
and  has  always  occasion  to  touch  some  part  of  her  face  so 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  8 1 

as  to  show  the  hand  and  arm  to  advantage.  Call  on  Ma 
dame  Dumolley,  who  is  at  chess.  Madame  Cabarus*  comes 
in.  I  tell  her  that  it  is  the  fault  of  La  Gaze  that  I  have 
not  paid  my  respects  at  her  Hotel.  She  tells  me  I  need 
no  introducer.  She  has  a  beautiful  hand,  and  very  fine 
eyes.  These  in  a  very  intelligible  manner  say  that  she 
has  no  objection  to  receiving  the  assurance  how  fine  they 
are.  She  goes  soon  to  Madrid,  and  will  be  glad  to  see  me 
both  here  and  there.  Slip  away  without  staying  to  sup 
per  and  return  home.  The  weather  is  extremely  warm 
and  like  to  continue  so.  The  spring  of  Europe,  which  has 
been  much  vaunted  by  the  natives  from  affection,  and  the 
prejudices  which  it  occasions,  and  by  travellers  from  the 
vanity  of  appearing  to  have  seen  or  tasted  or  smelt  or  felt 
something  purer  or  newer  or  sweeter  or  softer  than  their 
neighbors — the  spring  of  Europe  has  reduced  itself,  this 
year  at  least,  to  one  week,  namely,  the  three  last  days  of 
April  and  the  first  four  of  May,  and  in  this  short  spring 
Parker,  by  changing  his  waistcoat,  has  taken  the  rheuma 
tism." 

Thursday,  May  i4th,  Morris  spent  at  Versailles  ;  called 
on  several  of  his  fair  friends,  and  "in  my  way  about  the 
town,"  he  declares,  "  I  wander  to  the  Queen's  apartments, 
which  are  furnished  in  very  good  taste.  Pass  from  thence 
to  the  chapel,  in  which  there  is  just  as  much  devotion  as  I 
expected.  Call  on  Madame  de  Segur  and  sit  a  while  at 
her  toilet.  She  says  she  is  heartily  tired  of  Versailles, 
which  I  believe.  She  shows  me  a  declaration  of  the  clergy 
of  Paris — highly  monarchical,  and  which  will  do  them  no 
good.  After  leaving  her,  a  shower  of  rain  arising,  I  take 
refuge  in  the  antechamber  of  M.  de  Montmorin,  who  asks 

*  Madame  Cabarus  was  the  wife  of  Count  Francois  Cabarus,  who  in  1782 
established  the  bank  of  San  Carlos,  at  Madrid.     Cabarus   was  arrested  in 
1790,  but  was  released,  and  in  1797  appointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary  at  the 
Congress  of  Rastadt. 
6 


82  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

me  if  I  am  come  to  dine  with  him,  tq  which  I  reply  in  the 
negative.  He  tells  me  I  must  come  some  day,  which  I 
promise  to  do.  Dine  with  M.  de  Lafayette — we  have  here 
the  politics  of  the  day.  Call  on  Madame  de  Montvoisseux, 
who  asks  me  to  go  with  her  party  to  the  Queen's  gardens 
at  Petit  Trianon.  We  walk  about  the  garden  a  good  deal. 
Royalty  has  here  endeavored  at  great  expense  to  conceal 
itself  from  its  own  eye.  But  the  attempt  is  vain.  A  dairy 
furnished  with  the  porcelain  of  Sevres  is  a  semblance  too 
splendid  for  rural  life.  The  adjoining  muddy  pond,  on 
the  other  hand,  but  poorly  resembles  a  lake.  On  the 
whole  this  garden  is  handsome,  and  yet  the  money  applied 
in  making  it  has  been  but  badly  spent,  and  would  be 
not  badly  spared.  I  observe  a  number  of  representatives 
to  the  States-General  walking  about  in  it.  Perhaps  there 
is  not  one  of  them  who  thinks  of  what  ought  to  strike 
them  all,  that  this  expense  and  others  like  this  have  occa 
sioned  their  meeting.  Return  pretty  late  to  town  and  sup 
with  Capellis  and  his  fair  aunt,  Madame  de  Flahaut.  An 
other  lady  is  there,  who  derives  much  pleasure  from  the 
sound  of  her  own  voice.  The  day  has  been  extremely 
hot ;  a  shower  in  the  evening  does  not  render  the  air  much 
cooler." 

"This  morning  [May  i6th]  is  windy,  cold,  rainy,  and 
disagreeable  ;  but  in  consistence  with  my  arrangements  in 
concert  with  M.  Le  Coulteux,  I  set  off  for  Lucennes,  and 
arrive  there  a  little  after  two  o'clock.  He  and  his  family 
have  been  expected  for  two  days,  but  none  are  come,  and 
as  the  cook  has  not  made  his  appearance  it  is  evident  that 
he  will  not  be  out  to  dinner.  Go  to  a  tavern  where,  with 
very  promising  appearances,  the  utmost  the  house  can 
aiford  is  a  mackerel,  a  pigeon,  fresh  eggs,  and  asparagus. 
The  first  has  probably  been  too  long  on  his  travels  and  ac 
quired  too  much  of  the  haut  gotit  for  a  plain  American. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  83 

This  circumstance  occasions  the  death  of  the  solitary 
pigeon,  who  is  thereby  released  from  the  confinement  in 
which  he  was  starving.  The  cookery  and  the  provisions 
are  worthy  of  each  other — so  that  this  day  at  least  I  shall 
run  no  risk  of  indigestion.  Mine  host,  in  a  laudable  zeal 
for  the  honor  of  his  house,  makes  up  in  the  bill  what  was 
deficient  in  the  dinner.  By  this  means  the  dishes  make  a 
very  respectable  figure.  The  poor  little  pigeon  is  rated 
at  something  more  than  a  shilling,  and  the  bunch  of  spin 
dled  asparagus  at  about  three  shillings,  which  is  not  un 
reasonable—considering  the  eggs  are  at  about  threepence 
apiece.  After  this  repast,  go  to  Malmaison,  where  all  is 
topsy-turvy,  a  strong  smell  of  paint  in  the  house,  and  add 
ed  to  that  a  dish  of  cabbage  and  vinegar  boiling,  which 
gives  another  smell  not  a  whit  more  pleasant.  Walk  over 
the  garden,  which  is  agreeable.  Madame  Dumolley  takes 
me  in  her  'whiskey,'  and  we  have  a  mighty  pleasant  ride 
in  one  of  the  Royal  parks.  I  take  tea  with  Madame,  and 
return  to  town  after  a  very  pleasant  day." 

Going  a  few  days  later  to  call  on  Madame  de  Suze,  he 
found  her  "in  a  scene  of  great  distress" — which  he  de 
scribes  with  a  touch,  at  least,  of  humor.  "  Her  lapdog  be 
ing  very  ill,  the  pauvre  bete  has  suffered  now  for  a  long 
time.  At  first  it  had  the  maladie  napolitaine ;  for  this  it 
was  sent  to  the  doctor  of  dogs,  who  by  a  course  of  mercu 
rials  eradicated  this  disease,  and  returned  him  as  complete 
a  skeleton  as  ever  came  out  of  the  powdering  tub.  The 
kind  mistress,  by  her  care  and  assiduity,  soon  brought  him 
up  to  a  tolerable  embonpoint,  when,  lo  !  another  indispo 
sition.  This  is  tres  grave,  et  voila  Madame,  la  fille  de 
chambre  et  un  des  valets,  qui  ne  s'occupent  que  de  cela. 
At  three  different  times  in  my  short  visit:  'Jevous  de- 
mande  bien  pardon,  M.  Morris — mais  c'est  une  chose  si  de- 
solante  que  de  voir  souffrir  comme  ca  une  pauvre  bete.' 


84  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  III. 

'  Ah  !  Madame,  ne  me  faites  point  de  vos  excuses,  je  vous  en 
prie,  pour  des  soins  si  aimables,  aussi  merites  que  toutes 
vos  attentions.'  At  length,  by  peeping  into  his  back,  she 
discovers  a  little  maggot.  '  Ah,  mon  Dieu  !  Mais,  voyez 
done!'  I  leave  them  to  go  to  dine  with  M.  la  Breteche. 
We  have  the  envoy  of  Saxe-Gotha  and  M.  de  Durfort 
of  the  guards.  After  dinner,  walk  to  the  pavilion  and 
sit  some  time.  The  tutor  of  the  son  of  M.  de  Durfort, 
who  was  with  her  husband  some  time  at  Florence,  gives 
us  a  long  account  of  Italy,  during  which  I  am  so  unfortu 
nate  as  to  fall  asleep,  sitting  next  to  Madame.  Among 
other  things,  he  mentions  the  want  of  cleanliness  among 
the  Italians  as  very  shocking,  and  speaks  of  it  with  the 
same  air  of  horror  which  some  people  put  on  when  they 
notice  a  similar  defect  in  the  French." 


J789-J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  85 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Morris  surprised  at  Parisian  manners  and  customs.  Tea  in  the  Palais 
Royal.  Visit  to  Romainville.  M.  de  Beaujolais.  Morris  writes 
verses  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Careless  driving.  Made  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Club  of  Valois.  Interviews  with  Judges.  Note  on  the  to 
bacco  contracts.  The  Dauphin's  death.  States-General  more  than 
ever  embroiled.  Morris  stands  for  Houdon's  statue  of  Washington. 
Strictures  on  the  Bishop  d'Autun.  Visit  to  Raincy.  The  clergy 
join  the  Tiers.  The  Salle  des  Menus  closed.  Bath  in  the  Tennis 
Court.  Great  excitement  in  Paris.  Morris's  sentiments  quoted.  His 
interest  in  France.  Necker  offers  to  resign.  The  mob  at  Versailles. 
Inflammatory  publications  at  the  Palais  Royal.  The  nobles  join  the 
other  orders.  Revolt  among  the  guards.  The  Abbaye  broken  open. 
The  king  terrified. 

IT  is  impossible  not  to  see  the  eyebrows  slightly  raised 
and  the  look  of  surprise  on  Morris's  face  as  he  notes 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  ladies  of  Paris.  "  What 
would  have  induced  one  of  my  countrywomen  to  place 
herself  in  such  a  position  ? "  he  says,  on  one  occasion, 
when  a  very  extraordinary  request  was  made  to  him,  hardly 
suitable  for  ears  polite.  While  sitting  one  evening  with  a 
friend  in  the  Palais  Royal,  drinking  lemonade  and  tea, 
"  the  waiter  comes  to  tell  me  that  two  ladies  are  without  who 
wish  to  speak  to  me.  These,  I  find,  are  Madame  de  Bour- 
sac  and  Madame  d'Espanchall,  whom  we  had  met  before  at 
the  Tuileries.  A  good  deal  of  light,  trivial  conversation, 
in  which  these  ladies  intimate  to  me  that  their  nuptial 
bonds  do  not  at  all  straighten  their  conduct,  and  it  would 
seem  that  either  would  be  content  to  form  an  intrigue. 


86  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

As  they  can  have  no  real  want  of  lovers,  and  as  they  can 
have  no  prepossession  in  my  favor,  this  conduct  evidently 
resolves  itself  into  some  other  motive — probably  a  view  to 
somej'0/is  cadeaux.  As  I  have  a  vast  fund  of  indifference  on 
the  subject,  I  say  a  number  of  handsome  nothings,  and  as 
the  ladies  are  relieved  by  my  presence  from  the  scandal  of 
being  alone  and  the  ennui  of  a  female  tete-a-tete,  I  shall 
have  the  credit  with  them  of  being  more  agreeable,  et 
plus  homme  d' esprit,  than  I  am,  by  a  great  deal." 

To  fulfil  an  engagement  made  with  Madame  de  Chastel- 
lux  to  visit  the  Marquis  de  Segur,  Morris  went  to  her 
apartments  on  the  day  appointed  and  found  her  in  at 
tendance  upon  the  Duchess  at  her  prayers.  She  brought 
a  message  from  her  Royal  Highness  of  regret  that  Mr. 
Morris  had  not  gone  to  see  her  at  her  apartment,  and  that 
she  would  be  glad  to  see  him  any  morning.  "  I  agree  t6 
pay  a  visit  to  her  with  Madame  de  Chastellux.  We  get 
into  my  carriage,  and  go  to  Romainville,  the  seat  of 
M.  de  Segur.  The  view  is  very  fine  from  the  house  and 
from  different  parts  of  the  garden,  at  the  foot  of  which  is 
a  charming  little  cottage.  In  the  garden  I  remark  an 
obelisk  dedicated  to  friendship.  It  is  erected  by  the 
Baron  de  Besenval  (I  suppose),  who  was  most  intimately 
the  friend  of  Madame  de  Segur  as  well  as  with  the  Mare- 
chal.  She,  with  an  unusual  degree  of  candor,  avowed  her 
passion  to  her  husband,  and  all  three  lived  very  happily 
together  until  her  death.  The  present  Vicomte  de  Segur 
is  son  to  the  Baron,  and  his  elder  brother  is  supposed  to 
be  son  to  the  Marechal.  The  Comtesse  de  Segur  does 
very  well  the  honors  of  the  house,  being  a  very  sensible 
and,  indeed,  a  lovely  woman.  The  Prince  and  Princess 
Galitzen*  dine  this  day  at  Romainville.  He  tells  me  he 

*  Prince  Dimitri  Galitzen,  a  Russian  diplomatist  and  author,  at  that  time 
Resident  Minister  at  the  Hague. 


1789-1  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  8/ 

has  been  from  home  now  about  seven  years.  We  return 
to  town  and  I  visit  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  insists  on  my 
spending  the  evening  with  Madame  de  Boursac,  which  I 
agree  to.  A  good  deal  of  chit-chat,  and  after  supper  M. 
de  Boursac  comes  in,  and  then  M.  d'Espanchall,  whose 
lady  is  also  there,  and  the  conversation  degenerates  into 
politics.  The  women  prattle  a  plenty  of  nonsense  about 
the  election  of  Paris,  which  it  seems  is  to  be  disputed,  and 
thereby  put  their  two  husbands  out  of  patience." 

The  promised  visit  to  her  Royal  Highness,  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans,  was  accomplished  on  Saturday,  May  23d.  "At 
ii  o'clock,"  he  says,  "with  Madame  de  Chastellux  I  go  to 
her  apartments.  She  is  at  breakfast,  the  Vicomte  de  Se- 
gur  sitting  next  to  her.  If  I  guess  right  his  attentions  are 
more  agreeable  to  her  than  she  is  aware  of.  His  inquisi 
tive  eye  asks  how  I  am  with  Madame  de  Chastellux,  to 
which  I  answer  by  a  firmness  of  insipid  countenance  per 
fectly  in  harmony  with  the  fact  that  I  have  never  yet  har 
bored  an  idea  respecting  her  which  would  derogate  from 
a  vestal,  and  this  not  from  virtue  entirely  but  very  much 
from  indifference,  and  yet  she  is  young  and  handsome  and 
sensible.  What  is  the  reason  of  this?  The  Duchess  also, 
by  an  insinuating  glance,  seems  to  say,  '  I  find  you  are  vast 
ly  attentive  there  and  I  am  glad  of  it.'  She  is  vastly  mis 
taken  and  I  am  glad  of  that.  Her  younger  son  comes  in, 

M.  de  Beaujolais,  a  fine,  sprightly  boy.     Madame  de , 

one  of  her  women,  enters  limping.  She  had  something  on 
the  toe  which  she  has  been  extracting  and  has  cut  to  the 
quick.  I  tell  her,  '  Madame,  quand  on  est  touche  au  vif 
on  s'en  repent  longtemps.'  An  old  devout  lady  who  is 
present,  taking  the  thing  with  great  simplicity  in  the  lit 
eral  sense,  adds,  in  the  true  matron  tone,  '  et  surtout  au 
pied.'  There  is  a  conserve  on  table  which  the  Duchess 
offers,  but  I  decline,  as  not  liking  4les  choses  sucrees.'  " 


88  DIARY  AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

There  was  keen  enjoyment  to  be  got  out  of  a  drive  with 
a  charming,  gay  companion  like  Madame  de  Flahaut, 
"through  the  unfrequented  parts  of  the  Bois  de  Boulogne, 
where  a  number  of  deer  skipping  about  contrast  very 
finely  with  the  belles  and  beaux  who  are  grouped  together 
in  different  parts."  Again,  to  wander,  as  he  says,  "  alone  in 
the  garden  of  Malmaison  before  dinner,  and  dream  of  my 
country  and  converse  with  my  absent  friends,  and  by  soli 
tude  to  bring  my  mind  back  to  its  natural  tone.  Then  in 
the  evening  I  go  to  see  Madame  de  Chastellux  and  write 
for  her  some  lines  that  occurred  to  me  whilst  driving  to 
day,  but  which  I  tell  her  are  not  an  impromptu,  though  I 
might  give  them  the  air  of  one.  She  thinks,  or  at  least 
says  she  thinks,  them  very  handsome.  I  agree  very  hon 
estly  that  they  are  well  turned  and  musical,  but  I  cannot 
agree  that  they  have  so  much  merit  as  she  seems  to  allow. 

"  If  Beauty  so  sweet  in  all  gentleness  drest, 

In  loveliness,  virtue,  arrayed ; 
By  the  graces  adorned,  by  the  muses  carest, 
By  lofty  ambition  obeyed  ; 

"Ah!  who  shall  escape  from  the  gold-painted  dart 

When  Orleans  touches  the  bow  ? 
Who  the  softness  resist  of  that  sensible  heart 
Where  love  and  benevolence  glow  ? 

"Thus  we  dream  of  the  Gods,  who  with  bounty  supreme 

Our  humble  petitions  accord. 
Our  love  they  excite,  and  command  our  esteem, 
Tho'  only  at  distance  adored." 

"A  few  days  later,"  he  says,  "when  I  call  at  the  Palais 
Royal  to  say  good-bye  to  Madame  de  Chastellux,  who  is 
going  to  Raincy  for  the  summer,  she  tells  me  she  gave 
my  verses  to  the  Duchess,  who  was  much  pleased  ;  found 
them  very  handsome,  but  not  just.  She  does  not  merit, 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  89 

etc.  In  reply,  I  beg  her  Royal  Highness  to  be  informed 
that  she  has  at  least  the  security  that  they  were  not  a  pre 
meditated  compliment  but  the  result  of  my  reflections 
during  a  solitary  ride,  and  that  I  shall  not  think  so  well  of 
her  as  I  have  done  if  she  is  not  convinced  of  the  justice  of 
my  verses,  which  in  my  opinion  forms  their  principal,  if 
not  their  only  merit,  for  she  must  know  better  than  any 
other  person  whether  she  merits  the  good  opinion  there 
expressed." 

"  A  day  in  the  country  [May  24th].  Very  warm  weather 
and  dusty.  A  large  company  at  Lucennes.  Among  them 
M.  Delville,  who  speaks  of  the  bad  quality  of  the  tobacco 
sent  to  him  by  Mr.  [Robert]  Morris.  I  explain  to  him 
the  nature  of  the  inspection  laws,  etc.,  and  I  tell  him  that 
I  do  not  complain  of  the  conduct  of  the  farm,  which  has 
been  candid  and  generous,  but  that  the  Committee  of 
Berni  has  occasioned  all  the  mischief.  In  the  evening  I 
drive  to  Malmaison.  Madame  Dumolley  is  very  civil,  but 
I  must  go  to  see  her,  I  find,  only  sur  les  jours  de fete,  Qu.  : 
Is  that  because  she  has  not  at  other  times  a  dinner  she 
would  wish  to  exhibit,  or  wishes  not,  at  other  times,  to  be 
broken  in  upon,  or  wishes  to  save  the  risk  of  a  visit  when 
she  is  not  at  home  ?  The  last  is  the  reason  assigned,  but 
the  second  is  that  which  I  believe  iru  At  a  little  before  ten 
I  set  off  for  Paris ;  and  my  coachman,  being  asleep,  I  am 
nearly  overset  in  one  of  the  ditches.  After  several  efforts 
to  make  him  awaken,  he  still  continuing  to  drive  wild,  I 
stop  him  and  ask  if  he  is  drunk.  Tell  him  if  he  is,  then  to 
get  down  from  the  box  and  let  my  servant  drive  ;  but,  if  he 
is  sober,  then  to  go  on  and  to  pay  more  attention,  for  that 
if  he  oversets  the  carriage  I  will  instantly  run  him  through 
the  body.  This  has  the  desired  effect,  and  brings  him  to 
the  use  of  his  senses.  How  idle  to  suppose  that  man  is  a 
reasonable  creature.  If'  he  had  run  into  the  ditch,  which 


90  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

is  dry,  and  about  six  foot  perpendicular,  it  is  a  thousand 
to  one  that  I  should  have  been  in  a  condition  not  to  act, 
and  he  not  to  suffer,  but  this  is  a  danger  to  which  by  habit 
he  is  familiarized.  The  other  by  its  novelty  makes  im 
pression,  and  he  does  not  consider,  at  least  until  he  is 
fairly  awake,  that  I  have  no  weapon  but  my  cane  to  exe 
cute  the  threat." 

Morris's  clear  views  on  general  subjects,  and  his  par 
ticular  knowledge  of  the  politics  of  Europe  as  well  as  of 
France,  had  already  won  for  him  a  reputation  which  was 
not  always  to  him  a  wholly  agreeable  one,  for  his  time  was 
valuable,  and  yet  the  interruptions  to  it,  springing  from 
his  popularity,  were  incessant.  "To-day"  [May  2yth], 
he  says,  "  I  am  disturbed  immediately  after  breakfast  by 
General  Sir  How  Whitford-Dalrymple  and  a  Mr.  Davis. 
They  stay  a  long  time,  and  enter  with  much  solicitude  into 
politics.  As  far  as  their  symptoms  may  go  they  indicate 
great  attention  of  the  British  Cabinet  to  what  passes  here 
regarding  the  States-General,  etc.  I  tell  them  that  if  the 
King  of  Prussia  were  worth  a  farthing,  the  English  might 
on  the  death  of  the  Emperor  play  a  very  good  game  ;  viz., 
upon  the  election  of  the  Archduke,  put  up  the  Electors 
of  Bavaria  and,  giving  Saxony  to  Prussia,  take  for  the  Stad- 
holder  the  Austrian  Netherlands,  which  with  some  of  the 
little  Bishoprics  in  the  neighborhood  would  form  a  re 
spectable  monarchy,  and  by  this  means  Britain  would 
form  for  herself  an  extensive  barrier,  including  Hanover, 
and  would  hem  in  her  enemy  on  every  side  almost. 
Whereas  if  France  establishes  a  free  government,  she  may 
easily  exchange  with  the  house  of  Austria  for  something 
to  be  acquired  elsewhere,  or  for  money,  the  right  to  Flan 
ders — and  then,  annexing  both  Flanders  and  Holland,  she 
will  become  indisputably  mistress  of  the  fate  of  Europe  ; 
that  Holland  (that  is,  the  United  Netherlands)  is  now  in  a 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  91 

position  that  cannot  endure,  and  her  fate  depends  on  the 
measure  of  the  moment  ;  that  if  France  disposes  herself  to 
act,  the  first  step  will  be  to  secure  an  alliance  with  us  at 
any  rate,  because  on  our  European  ally  will  depend  the 
fate  of  the  West  Indies,  etc.  We  shall  see  at  a  future  day 
what  will  be  the  effect  of  such  suggestions.  Go  to  dine 
with  Madame  Faucault,  the  daughter  of  my  old  friend 
James  Leray  de  Chaumont.  She  is  at  her  toilette  and  is, 
I  am  told,  a  woman  of  gallantry.  Dine  and  chatter  poli 
tics.  Madame  Leray  de  Chaumont*  talks  to  me  very 
sensibly,  considering  that  she  is  said  to  be  crazy.  After 
dinner  I  walk  in  the  Champs  Elysees,  and  meet  M.  de 
Durfort,  who  tells  me  the  number  of  troops  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Paris  is  to  prevent  tumult  if  the  States-General 
are  dissolved  ;  laugh  at  this  idea,  which  shows  only  the 
wishes  of  himself  and  his  friends.  After  leaving  him  I 
call  on  Madame  de  la  Suze.  She  is  just  going  to  dress, 
but  that  is  nothing.  *  M.  Morris  me  permettra  de  faire 
ma  toilette?'  'Certainly.'  So  we  have  the  whole  perform 
ance  of  undressing  and  dressing  except  the  shift.  Finish 
the  evening  in  the  salon  of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  where 
I  meet  Madame  de  Boursac,  who  tells  me  that  I  am  in 
scribed  a  member  of  the  Club  de  Valois  on  the  nomina 
tion  of  M.  de  Boursac." 

With  unabated  energy  Morris  continued  his  efforts  to 


*  Madame  Leray  de  Chaumont  was  Miss  Grace  Coxe  of  Philadelphia.  M. 
Leray  de  Chaumont  met  her  while  he  was  in  America  after  the  peace.  She 
is  reported  to  have  fallen  in  love  with  the  Frenchman,  and  declared  that  if 
he  refused  to  marry  her  it  would  break  her  heart.  He  thereupon  told  her 
tnat  his  attentions  to  her  were  marked  by  no  more  fervor  than  were  those  he 
paid  to  others  of  her  sex,  but  that  if  she  felt  so  strongly  on  the  subject,  he 
would  write  to  his  parents  for  permission  to  marry  her.  Morris  escorted 
her  back  to  America  in  1798,  and  the  subsquent  history  of  her  peculiarities 
would  be  amusing  if  it  were  not  that  she  subjected  her  children,  and  Mor 
ris,  who  was  by  their  father,  during  his  absence  in  France,  appointed  guar 
dian,  to  ceaseless  annoyances. 


92  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

bring  about  an  accommodation  with  the  farmers-gen 
eral  and  Robert  Morris  in  the  affair  of  the  tobacco.  But 
the  dreaded  suit  became  inevitable,  and,  in  order  to  urge 
it  forward,  he  was  advised  to  visit  his  judges.  This  he 
accordingly  did,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  obtained 
assurances  from  the  grocer,  that  the  court  was  "  impartial, 
and  alike  uninfluenced  by  farmers  and  grand  seigneurs, 
that  he  would  do  everything  in  his  power  for  the  cause, 
etc.  ; "  from  the  vender  of  skins,  who  was  so  surprised  by 
a  chariot  stopping  at  his  door  "and  a  servant  in  livery  in 
quiring  for  him,  without  anything  of  the  humble  suitor 
in  his  countenance,"  that  his  "  honor  was  brought  into 
the  street "  by  the  unusual  proceeding,  a  promise  to 
do  everything  in  his  power  ;  and  from  the  amiable  M. 
Levi,  the  vintner,  a  promise  to  mention  the  matter  to 
his  brethren  at  the  earliest  opportunity,  with  many  assu 
rances  that  "  he  believes  my  suit  to  be  good,  and  that  they 
desire  to  give  the  best  reception  to  strangers,  etc.;  that  of 
course  a  winter  passage  of  a  thousand  leagues  is  not  un 
dertaken  on  light  ground  by  a  man  of  common  under 
standing,  etc.  I  of  course  assure  him  that  there  is  doubt 
less  every  reason  for  confiding  in  the  justice  of  the  French, 
yet  a  stranger  opposed  to  a  powerful  company  is  at  a  dis 
advantage."  After  interviews  with  the  bookseller,  the 
woollen  draper,  the  goldsmith,  and  the  furrier,  Morris 
says  he  was  quite  overcome  by  the  ludicrous  side  of  the 
picture,  "  which  is  so  strongly  painted  to  my  own  eyes 
that  I  cannot  forbear  laughing  at  myself,  and  having  at 
length  brought  this  disagreeable  scene  to  an  end,  as  a 
means  of  refreshment  I  utilize  a  ticket  which  I  have  for 
the  Pare  Monceau,  where  I  walk  a  considerable  time.  It 
has  merit,  and  has  cost  at  least  as  much  as  it  deserves. 
The  gardener,  an  Englishman,  and  believing  me  to  be  one, 
is  so  kind  as  to  direct  a  sentinel  to  find  me  out,  and  then 


1789]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  93 

comes  himself  and  offers  to  show  me  the  hot-house,  etc. 
This  is  vastly  polite  and,  indeed,  kind,  but  perhaps  the 
expectation  of  a  little  French  coin  from  an  English  pocket 
may  have  had  some  influence.  As  this,  however,  would 
be  an  ungenerous  suspicion,  I  leave  him  the  full  gratifica 
tion  of  the  patriotic  sentiment,  lavish  a  profusion  of  com 
pliments,  but  not  a  single  sou.  After  a  very  magnificent 
supper  and  a  game  of  whist  at  the  house  of  M.  Bontin,  I 
propose  to  him  the  supplying  of  the  marine  with  provi 
sions,  and  offer  him  a  concern.  He  objects  his  office,  to 
which  I  reply  that  he  need  not  appear  in  it,  but  that,  be 
sides,  it  is  a  most  honorable  and  praiseworthy  pursuit  to 
obtain  supplies  for  the  Crown  upon  easier  terms,  and 
thereby  to  cement  more  strongly  an  alliance  of  infinite 
consequence  to  France.  We  are  to  talk  further  on  this 
subject." 

The  promised  visit  was  paid  to  M.  de  Montmorin  at 
Versailles  on  Friday,  the  2pth  of  May.  "  His  porter  in  a 
surly  tone  tells  me  I  am  come  too  late,  just  when  the  Count 
is  going  to  dinner,  to  which  I  reply  by  desiring  he  will 
tell  his  master  I  wish  to  speak  to  him.  Stay  in  the  ante 
chamber  pretty  late.  At  length  dinner  is  announced,  and 
I  deliver  the  letter  which  I  have  kept  so  long,  with  an 
apology,  which  is  well  received.  Go  up  to  dinner.  Com 
mon  States-General  chit-chat.  The  dinner  lasts  long, 
as  we  wait  for  a  gentleman  who  is  in  session  of  the  no 
blesse.  On  quitting  the  Count  he  very  kindly  regrets  that 
he  sees  so  little  of  me  this  day,  which  compliment  might 
have  been  spared,  as  it  depended  on  him  to  have  had  more 
particular  conversation.  He  desires  a  repetition  of  my 
visit,  and  that  I  would  consider  his  house  as  my  home 
whenever  I  am  there." 

"  This  morning  [May  3oth],  being  rather  broken  to  pieces 
by  business  interruptions,  I  applied  the  fragments  of  the 


94  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

day  to  seeing  curiosities  with  Madame  de  Flahaut  as  my 
companion.  First  the  Gobelins,  which,  after  all  that 
has  been  said  in  their  favor,  are  an  idle  kind  of  art,  be 
cause  they  produce  pieces  which  are  more  costly  and  less 
beautiful  than  paintings,  and  though  in  one  sense  they 
last  long,  yet  in  another  they  do  not,  because  the  colors 
fade.  For  the  rest,  it  is  a  wonderful  operation.  From  the 
Gobelins,  in  the  gallery  of  which  are  some  excellent  paint 
ings,  we  go  to  the  King's  botanical  gardens.  Having  no 
knowledge  of  botany  except  to  distinguish  onions  and 
cabbages  from  oak  trees,  I  can  pretend  to  no  judgment  of 
this  garden,  which  is,  I  daresay,  excellent.  It  is  in  some 
respects  handsome,  and,  taking  the  whole  together,  plants, 
buildings,  etc.,  must  have  cost  a  great  deal.  Our  exami 
nation  is  very  cursory.  From  thence  we  go  to  Notre 
Dame.  The  altar  piece  is  exquisite,  as  are  several  of  the 
paintings.  This  reverend  Gothic  building  is  well  worth 
examination.  Dine  with  the  Marechal  de  Castries  and 
explain  to  him  the  affair  of  the  claim  set  up  against  the 
farm,  and  I  am  to  make  a  note  out  and  give  it  to  him.  I 
tell  him  that  a  man  of  sense,  decision,  and  firmness  is 
necessary  to  the  King  in  the  present  moment  to  extricate 
him  from  the  difficulties  in  which  they  are  plunged. 
Also  make  some  rough  sketches  of  the  means.  After 
dinner  I  call  on  Mr.  Jefferson  and  sit  a  good  while. 
General  conversation  on  character,  politics,  etc.  I  think 
he  does  not  form  very  just  estimates  of  character  but 
rather  assigns  too  many  to  the  humble  rank  of  fools, 
whereas  in  life  the  gradations  are  infinite  and  each  indi 
vidual  has  his  peculiarities  of  fort  and  feeble.  Go  to 
Madame  de  Flahaut's,  spend  the  evening,  and  talk  a  good 
deal  of  loose,  light  nonsense." 

"On  my  way  to  Malmaison  to-day  [May  3ist],  passing 
along  the  Champs  Elysees,  I   stop  a  moment  to  speak  to 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  95 

Mr.  Jefferson  and  General  Dalrymple.  They  tell  me  that 
the  Conciliatory  Commission  at  Versailles  have  parted 
without  doing  anything,  notwithstanding  a  very  florid 
harangue  of  M.  Necker.  This  man's  vanity  must  be  ex 
cessive,  to  think  that  he  can  influence  by  his  eloquence, 
and  especially  when  the  esprit  et  intfret  de  corps  are  in 
such  powerful  operation.  At  Malmaison  meet  De  Can- 
teleu  as  I  expected.  I  impart  my  intention  of  submitting 
the  decision  of  the  tobacco  claim  to  M.  Necker  himself, 
which,  under  all  circumstances,  he  thinks  well  of.  He 
thinks  the  indecision  of  character  which  marks  M.  Necker 
will  prevent  him  from  agreeing  to  our  plan  about  the 
American  debt.  Says  the  treasury  is  in  blast  for  June  and 
July  ;  that  M.  Necker  knows  nothing  of  administration, 
is,  in  effect,  ignorant  of  mankind,  etc." 

The  note  on  the  subject  of  the  tobacco  contracts,  and 
a  future  contract  for  the  French  claim  on  America, 
Morris  prepared  on  the  ist  of  June.  "This  is  a  laborious 
task,"  he  says  [June  ist],  "for  me,  as  it  is  in  French.  One 
of  M.  Le  Coulteux's  principal  clerks  comes  to  examine  the 
work  and  see  if  it  is  French.  He  finds  but  little  to  cor 
rect."  The  next  day  the  note  was  presented  to  M.  de 
Castries.  "He  finds  it  very  well.  He  distinguishes  be 
tween  the  debt  for  which  France  is  or  was  guarantee  and 
that  which  arises  from  actual  advances,  and  it  seems  that 
on  the  former  they  would  make  no  abatement.  Evidently 
he  has  conversed  on  this  subject  with  M.  Necker.  He 
will  have  the  note  copied  with  a  small  alteration  and  will 
give  it  to  the  minister.  Thinks  that,  beginning  with  the 
pros  and  proceeding  afterwards  to  the  other  points,  we 
may  finally  have  the  whole  connected  together.  " 

Dining,  June  2d,  with  the  Marechal  de  Segur  at  his 
country-place,  Morris  met  the  Archbishop  of  Bordeaux. 
"  He  is,  they  say,  an  intimate  friend  of  M.  Necker's. 


96  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

Converse  with  him  a  little  on  politics,  and  propose  that 
the  King  should  cut  the  knot  which  the  States  cannot 
untie  ;  viz.,  that  he  should  prescribe  to  them  the  future 
constitution  and  leave  them  to  consider  it,  etc.  He  says 
he  thinks  it  must  end  in  some  such  way.  Return  to  town 
and  in  my  way  take  a  view  (from  the  heights)  of  this  vast 
city.  It  covers  an  immense  tract  of  country  indeed. 
Take  a  turn  in  the  Palais  Royal  and  go  to  supper  with 
Madame  de  Flahaut.  Confoundedly  bored  and  find  it  ex 
tremely  difficult  to  keep  myself  awake." 

"  This  afternoon  [June  3d]  I  go  to  see  Mr.  Jefferson. 
We  have  some  political  conversation.  He  seems  to  be  out 
of  hope  of  anything  being  done  to  purpose  by  the  States- 
General.  This  comes  of  having  too  sanguine  expectations 
of  a  downright  republican  form  of  Government.  The 
literary  people  here,  observing  the  abuses  of  a  monarch 
ical  form,  imagine  that  everything  must  go  better  in  pro 
portion  as  it  recedes  from  the  present  establishments,  and 
in  their  closets  they  make  men  exactly  suited  to  their  sys 
tems.  But  unluckily  they  are  such  as  exist  nowhere  else, 
least  of  all  in  France.  I  am  more  than  ever  persuaded 
that  the  form  which  at  first  appeared  to  me  most  fit  for 
them  is  that  which  will  be  adopted,  not  exactly  according 
to  my  idea,  but  probably  in  some  better  manner.  After 
refreshing  myself  with  a  cup  of  tea  at  the  cafe  in  the 
Palais  Royal,  I  go  to  the  Club  Valois,  of  which  I  have 
been  chosen  a  member.  There  is  nothing  remarkable 
here.  Call  on  Madame  de  Flahaut,  where  I  am  engaged 
to  sup.  Find  her  with  her  feet  in  hot  water,  sick,  and  has 
had  an  ague  and  fever,  and  her  head  is  very  heavy.  She 
desires  me  to  prescribe  for  her.  I  recommend  a  grain 
and  a  half  of  tartar  emetic — and  after  that  bark  is  to  be 
taken." 

"  To-day  [June  4th]  the  news  of  the  Dauphin's  death  was 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  97 

announced,  and  Mr.  Short  tells  us  that  the  States-General 
are  more  embroiled  than  ever.  Mr.  Jefferson,  with  whom 
I  take  a  drive,  requests,  on  the  part  of  M.  Houdon,*  that  I 
would  stand  to-morrow  for  the  figure  of  General  Washing 
ton,  to  which  I  consent." 

Houdon  was  working  at  this  time  on  the  statue  of  Wash 
ington  which  now  adorns  the  City  Hall  at  Richmond,  Vir 
ginia,  but  there  'seems  to  have  been  no  particular  reason, 
other  than  that  of  friendship  and  the  fact  of  his  being 
a  countryman  of  Washington's,  that  Morris  should  have 
been  called  upon  to  make  a  vicarious  victim  of  himself. 
The  fact  of  his  devoted  friendship  for  Washington,  however, 
was  reason  enough  to  obtain  his  consent  to  stand  for  the 
statue,  "although,"  as  he  says,  "it,  being  the  humble  em 
ployment  of  a  manikin,  was  rather  irksome.  This  is 
literally  taking  the  advice  of  St.  Paul  to  be  all  things 
to  all  men.  Promise  M.  Houdon  to  attend  next  Tues 
day  morning  at  half-past  eight  to  have  my  bust  taken, 
which  he  desires,  to  please  himself,  for  this  is  the  answer 
to  rny  question  what  he  wants  with  my  bust — a  question 
dictated  with  a  view  to  obviate  any  future  demand  of  pay 
ment  on  my  part.  Later  in  the  afternoon  I  go  to  the 
Palais  Royal,  and  pay  a  visit  of  respectful  inquiry  to  Ma 
dame  de  Flahaut.  She  is  better.  From  there  go  to  the 
Club  Valois.  The  Tiers  have  agreed  to  proceed  to  the 
verification  of  the  powers,  *  par  ordre  sauf  a  considerer 
par  des  commissaires  les  doutes  qui — .'  This  is  '  une  petite 
victoire  remportee  par  la  noblesse,  qui  s'en  glorifie  beau- 
coup.'  From  the  club  go  to  supper  at  the  Baron  de  Be- 

*  Jean  Antoine  Houdon,  a  French  sculptor,  was  born  at  Versailles  in  1741. 
About  the  year  1785  Dr.  Franklin  gave  him  a  commission  to  execute  the 
marble  statue  of  Washington  which  is  now  in  the  State  House  at  Richmond, 
Virginia.  He  came  to  Philadelphia  to  obtain  the  model  of  this  work.  His 
reputation  was  increased  later  in  life  by  his  statues  of  Voltaire  and  Cicero, 
and  his  busts  of  Rousseau,  Franklin,  Napoleon,  and  Ney.  He  died  in  1825. 

7 


98  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

senval's  ;  nothing  worth  notice,  except  that  in  the  salon  we 
have  a  fire,  which  seems  disagreeable  to  nobody." 

"The  States-General  seem  to  approach  a  little  more 
toward  accommodation,  I  hear  to-night  [June  6th],  in  Ma 
dame  de  Flahaut's  salon,  from  1'Eveque  d'Autun,  who  is  one 
of  our  company  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut.  He  appears  to  be  a  sly,  cunning,  ambitious,  and 
malicious  man.  I  know  not  why  conclusions  so  disadvan 
tageous  to  him  are  formed  in  my  mind,  but  so  it  is,  and  I 
cannot  help  it." 

"  At  three  o'clock  [June  loth]  I  set  off  for  Versailles  and 
visit  some  of  my  friends — among  them  Mesdames  d'An- 
givilliers  and  Tesse.  The  former  is  as  angry  about  the 
presumption  of  the  Tiers  as  the  latter  was  at  the  intem 
perance  of  the  nobles  ;  both  are  equally  right  and  wrong. 
See  here  two  sisters,  who  show  by  their  gentle  glances 
that  they  like  to  have  tender  things  said,  at  least. .  I  don't 
know  them.  Call  on  Madame  de  Flahaut,  but  find  her  too 
unwell  to  go  abroad  this  evening.  A  good  deal  of  chit 
chat  with  her.  She  tells  me  that  I  suit  the  taste  of  this 
country,  etc.,  which  is  a  vast  compliment  to  a  stranger — I 
really  apprehend  much  more  than  I  deserve." 

The  expressions  of  regard  and  friendship  made  by  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans  for  Morris  were  not  wholly  fafon 
de  parler,  and  Thursday,  June  nth,  was  the  day  appoint 
ed  for  him  to  visit  her  Royal  Highness  at  Raincy,  where 
he  arrived  at  eleven  o'clock.  "Nobody  yet  visible,"  he 
says,  "and  after  some  time  the  Duchess  appears  and  tells 
me  she  has  given  Madame  de  Chastellux  notice  of  my  ar 
rival.  This  consists  with  my  primitive  idea.  Near  12 
before  the  breakfast  is  paraded,  but  as  I  had  eaten  mine 
before  my  departure  this  is  no  present  inconvenience. 
After  breakfast  we  go  to  mass  in  the  chapel.  In  the  trib 
une  above  we  have  a  bishop,  an  abbe,  the  Duchess,  her 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  99 

maids,  and  some  of  their  friends.  Madame  de  Chastellux 
is  below  on  her  knees.  We  are  amused  above  by  a  num 
ber  of  little  tricks  played  off  by  M.  de  Segur  and  M.  de 
Cubieres*  with  a  candle,  which  is  put  into  the  pockets 
of  different  gentlemen,  the  Bishop  among  the  rest,  and 
lighted  while  they  are  otherwise  engaged  (for  there  is  a 
fire  in  the  tribune),  to  the  great  merriment  of  the  spec 
tators.  Immoderate  laughter  is  the  consequence.  The 
Duchess  preserves  as  much  gravity  as  she  can.  This  scene 
must  be  very  edifying  to  the  domestics  who  are  opposite 
to  us,  and  to  the  villagers  who  worship  below.  After  this 
ceremony  is  concluded  we  commence  our  walk,  which  is 
long  and  excessively  hot.  Then  we  get  in  bateaux,  and 
the  gentlemen  row  the  ladies,  which  is  by  no  means  a  cool 
operation.  After  that  more  walking,  so  that  I  am  exces 
sively  inflamed,  even  to  fever-heat.  Get  to  the  Chateau 
and  doze  for  a  little,  en  attendant  le  diner,  which  does  not 
come  till  after  five.  A  number  of  persons  surround  the 
windows,  and  doubtless  form  a  high  idea  of  the  company, 
to  whom  they  are  obliged  to  look  up  at  an  awful  distance. 
Ah,  did  they  but  know  how  trivial  the  conversation,  how 
very  trivial  the  characters,  their  respect  would  soon  be 
changed  to  an  emotion  extremely  different.  Madame  de 
St.  Simon  is  the  subject  of  an  epitaph  by  the  Vicomte  de 
Segur,  the  purport  of  which  is  that  she  is  lewd,  and  that 
idea  is  tres  fortement  prononce.  She  attacks  him  in  a  se 
rious  discourse  on  the  folly  of  his  pursuits,  which,  having 
only  vanity  for  a  motive,  tend  to  inspire  a  passion  where 
none  has  hitherto  been  felt,  and  merely  because  of  that. 
He  defends  himself  by  observing  that  a  thing  of  that  sort 
cannot  affect  his  vanity,  because  the  pursuit  of  a  woman 

*The  Marquis  Simon  Louis  Pierre  de  Cubieres  was  attached  to  the  person 
of  the  king  as  equerry  and  served  him  faithfully  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life  in 
the  Revolution. 


100  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  CHAP.  IV. 

is  like  a  game  of  chess,  when  in  consequence  of  a  certain 
set  of  moves  the  success  is  certain.  She  agrees  in  this 
idea,  and  thence  draws  more  certainly  her  conclusions 
that  such  pursuits  are  ridiculous.  I  think  I  understand 
this  conversation  in  its  full  latitude,  for  my  own  observa 
tion  had  already  pointed  at  the  object,  not  named  but,  if  I 
mistake  not,  clearly  understood.  After  dinner  the  weath 
er,  which  had  been  hot,  becomes  cold,  and  the  fire  is  by  no 
means  disagreeable.  More  walking,  but  I  refuse  to  par 
take  of  it,  being  fairly  winged,  to  use  the  sportsman's 
phrase.  A  little  before  8  set  off  for  town,  having  the  com 
pany  of  Madame  de  Chastellux's  nurse  and  child.  The 
request  to  take  them  would  have  looked  odd  in  America, 
but  I  conclude  that  it  is  quite  in  the  order  of  things  here, 
and  readily  comply,  but  indeed  for  a  better  reason.  I  am 
glad  in  this  kind  of  way  to  repay  attentions  which  my 
heart  will  not  let  me  meet  in  any  other." 

"This  morning  [June  i2th]  Mr.  Jefferson,  just  from  Ver 
sailles,  tells  me  that  the  Tiers  had  called  on  the  noblesse 
and  clergy  to  join  them  and  proceed  to  business,  which 
has  thrown  the  former  into  a  rage.  He  considers  the 
affairs  of  this  country  as  being  in  a  very  critical  situation. 
They  are  so,  but  the  royal  authority  has  great  weight,  and, 
if  brought  in  to  the  aid  of  the  privileged  orders,  may  yet 
prevent  their  destruction.  However,  he  and  I  differ  in 
our  system  of  politics.  He,  with  all  the  leaders  of  liberty 
here,  is  desirous  of  annihilating  distinctions  of  order. 
How  far  such  views  may  be  right  respecting  mankind  in 
general  is,  I  think,  extremely  problematical,  but  with  re 
spect  to  this  nation  I  am  sure  it  is  wrong  and  cannot 
eventuate  well." 

"To-day  [June  ipth],  I  call  on  Madame  de  la  Suze. 
She  is  embroidering  with  the  tambour  needle.  Is  quite 
out  of  temper  with  the  politics  of  the  times,  but  is  deter- 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  IOI 

mined  to  be  of  the  party  which  will  furnish  money,  be 
that  which  it  may,  because  the  husbands  of  herself  and  her 
sisters  'ont  beaucoup  sur  le  Roi.'  Voila  les  opinions  poli- 
tiques  qui  sont  bien  motivees.  From  thence  go  to  the  club, 
and  read  the  papers.  The  clergy  have  this  day  by  a  small 
majority  determined  to  join  the  Tiers.  This  stroke  is  fa 
tal  to  the  noblesse,  for  the  Tiers  having  already  consti 
tuted  themselves  the  National  Assembly  as  representing 
96  percent,  of  the  nation,  they  will  now  have  the  claim  to 
be  a  majority  of  orders  as  well  as  heads.  Unless  the 
royal  authority  be  interposed  to  save  the  nobles,  they  are 
gone,  and  of  this  there  seems  to  be  but  slender  probability. 
From  the  club  go  to  Madame  d'Espanchall's  (an  invita 
tion  which  I  would  gladly  have  evaded)  to  supper.  I  am 
assailed  for  the  copy  of  an  extempore  epitaph  written  at 
Raincy  on  the  Vicomte  de  Segur,  which  is  wretchedly  bad. 
I  evade  the  request  till  after  supper,  when  I  am  again  so 
licited  by  Madame  de  Boursac  to  repeat  it,  and  Madame 
de  Warsi,  who  is  a  very  beautiful  and  accomplished  woman, 
entreats  me  to  write  it,  because  she  understands  English 
only  by  the  eye — having  learnt  to  read,  not  to  speak  it. 
Having  her  promise  to  return  the  scrap  of  paper,  I  write 
for  her  the  wretched  lines  in  question,  which  had  the  sin 
gle  merit  at  the  moment  of  having  been  written  sur-le- 
champ  as  a  petite  vengeance  for  Madame  de  St.  Simon,  on 
whom  he  had  written  an  epitaph  at  breakfast  not  too 
delicate. 

Here  lies  a  merry,  wicked  wight, 
Who  spent  in  mischief  all  his  life, 
And,  lest  the  world  should  do  him  right, 
Determined  not  to  take  a  wife. 

The  applause  it  met  with  arose  from  the  pleasure  man 
kind  always  feel  at  seeing  a  tyrant  galled.  Madame  de 


102  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

Warsi  begs  leave  to  keep  them,  which  I  refuse.  She  says 
she  remembers  them,  and,  to  convince  me,  sets  about  writ 
ing  them  from  memory,  and  convinces  both  herself  and 
me  that  she  cannot.  I  then  take  the  pencil  and  write  for 
her: 

To  one  like  you,  divinely  fair, 

On  nothing  but  yourself  I'll  write, 
Nor  will  I  own  another  care, 

Than  what  may  give  to  you  delight ; 
If  that  delight  I  might  convey, 

At  every  gentle,  kind  caress, 
I'd  own  the  force  of  beauty's  sway, 

And  you  what  blessing  'tis  to  bless. 


M.  de  Boursac  tells  me  (which  is  the  aristocratic  conso 
lation)  that  the  King  has  called  a  council  on  the  present 
state  of  affairs,  in  which  each  is  to  deliver  his  opinion  in 
His  Majesty's  presence.  I  do  not  believe  that  this  will 
produce  any  effect  whatever  :  for  the  decision  this  day  will 
awe  those  who  two  days  ago  were  loud  against  M.  Necker, 
and  probably  those  who  called,  or  prompted  the  call  of 
this  council,  will  find  the  event  to  be  in  direct  reverse  of 
their  wishes  and  expectations." 

It  was  on  the  iyth  of  June  that  the  Commons,  after  a 
long  and  ominously  patient  waiting  for  the  other  two  or 
ders  to  unite  with  them,  decided  "  to  begin  the  work  of 
national  regeneration,"  and  declared  themselves  the  Na 
tional  Assembly  of  France.  Three  days  after,  when  about 
to  assemble  to  begin  their  great  work,  Morris  speaks  in 
the  diary  of  the  fact  "that  the  different  corps  of  the  States- 
General  were  prevented  from  meeting,  the  chamber  being 
surrounded  with  guards.  The  reason  assigned,"  he  con 
tinues,  "is  that  the  King  intends  to  have  a  Seance  Royale 
on  Monday,  and  that  some  alterations  are  necessary  to  the 
salon.  After  driving  and  walking  a  while,  go  to  the  club. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  IO3 

Meet  the  Comte  de  Croix,  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault,*  Vi- 
comte  de  Noailles,f  Segur,  young  Dillon,  and  sundry 
others.  Various  conjectures  about  the  object  of  the  Se 
ance  Royale  to  be  held  on  Monday.  I  believe  that  this 
step  would  not  have  been  taken  if  the  Court  had  foreseen 
the  step  of  the  clergy  yesterday.  They  have  very  inflam 
mable  materials  to  handle,  and  must  take  great  heed. 
The  general  idea  seems  to  be  that  the  seance  is  conse 
quential  upon  what  passed  in  the  Tiers,  when  they  as 
sumed  to  themselves  the  title  of  National  Assembly.  But 
I  conjecture  that,  however  this  incident  may  have  pre 
cipitated  that  event,  it  originates  in  the  idea  of  arranging 
the  different  corps  in  such  a  way  as  that  they  may  act,  in 
stead  of  being  as  at  present  an  useless  horde." 

The  schemes  of  the  court  and  king  were  not  furthered 
by  closing  the  doors  of  the  great  hall  against  these  men — 
determined  upon  a  new  order  of  things.  Several  of  the 
more  courageous  among  them  led  the  others  to  an  old 
tennis-court,  where  they  solemnly  swore  the  great  oath, 
called  the  Jeu  de  Paume,  "not  to  separate  until  a  consti 
tution  for  France  had  been  adopted." 

"At  the  club  this  evening"  [June  2ist],  Morris  says, 
"it  is  said  that  the  Seance  Royale  intended  for  to-morrow 
is  postponed.  At  5  o'clock  on  the  2oth  M.  Necker  wrote 
a  letter  to  the  lieutenant  of  police,  assuring  that  it  is  not 
intended  to  prevent  the  further  session  of  the  States. 
When  there  is  apprehension  on  one  side  and  determina 
tion  on  the  other,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  things  will  eventu- 

*Duc  de  la  Rochefoucault,  a  patriot  and  active  member  of  the  States- 
General  in  1789.  He  favored  the  popular  cause  in  the  Revolution,  but  was 
massacred  at  Gisors  in  1792. 

t  Vicomte  de  Noailles  was  a  deputy  to  the  States-General  in  1789,  and  pro 
posed,  on  the  4th  of  August,  the  suppression  of  feudal  rights  and  other  privi 
leges  of  the  aristocracy.  Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  Reign  of  Terror 
he  emigrated  to  the  United  States.  In  1804  he  was  killed  in  a  naval  engage 
ment  with  the  English.  He  married  a  sister  of  Madame  de  Lafayette. 


IO4  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

ate.  For  my  part,  I  presume  that  the  Seance  Royale  is 
postponed  that  they  may  come  to  a  new  determination 
consequent  on  the  resolution  of  the  clerge." 

When  the  news  of  the  Jeu  de  Paume  reached  Paris, 
the  Palais  Royal,  says  Arthur  Young,  "  was  in  a  flame  ; 
the  coffee-houses,  pamphlet  shops,  corridors,  and  gardens 
were  crowded — alarm  and  apprehension  sat  in  every  eye  : 
nothing  was  so  glaringly  ridiculous  but  the  mob  swallowed 
it  with  indiscriminating  faith.  It  was,  moreover,  curious 
to  remark  among  people  of  another  description  that  the 
balance  of  opinion  was  clearly  that  the  National  Assembly 
had  gone  too  far — had  been  too  violent — and  had  taken 
steps  the  mass  of  the  people  would  not  support." 

"  Before  starting  for  Versailles  to-day  [June  23d]  I  sec 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  who  says  she  wrould  ask  me  to  dine 
if  I  had  not  declared  that  I  was  going  to  Versailles. 
When  I  arrive  at  Versailles  I  call  upon  Madame  de  Tesse, 
who  gives  me  a  cordial  reception,  complaining,  however,  of 
my  politics.  Lord  and  Lady  Camelford,  with  their  daughter, 
come  in.  Mr.  Jefferson  tells  me  that  on  the  strength  of  an 
acquaintance  with  an  acquaintance  of  Madame  de  Tesse's, 
without  being  themselves  known  to  her,  they  had  sent  and 
asked  a  dinner.  This  is  quite  as  free  and  easy  as  the  French 
themselves  can  be.  The  King  has  to-day,  in  his  Seance 
Royale  pleased  the  nobility  and  very  much  displeased  the 
Tiers.  I  find  it  difficult  to  learn  exactly  what  has  passed, 
but  it  seems  to  rne  the  nobility  have  less  cause  for  exulta 
tion  than  they  imagine.  At  dinner  I  sit  next  to  M.  de 
Lafayette,  who  tells  me  I  injure  the  cause,  for  that  my  sen 
timents  are  continually  quoted  against  the  good  party.  I 
seize  this  opportunity  to  tell  him  that  I  am  opposed  to  the 
democracy  from  regard  to  liberty  ;  that  I  see  they  are 
going  headlong  to  destruction,  and  would  fain  stop  them 
if  I  could  ;  that  their  views  respecting  this  nation  are 


1789]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  IO5 

totally  inconsistent  with  the  materials  of  which  it  is  com 
posed,  and  that  the  worst  thing  that  could  happen  would 
be  to  grant  their  wishes.  He  tells  me  that  he  is  sensible 
his  party  are  mad,  and  tells  them  so,  but  is  not  the  less  de 
termined  to  die  with  them.  I  tell  him  I  think  it  would  be 
just  as  well  to  bring  them  to  their  senses  and  live  with 
them.  He  says  he  is  determined  to  resign  his  seat,  which 
step  I  approve  of,  because  the  instructions  by  which  he  is 
bound  are  contrary  to  his  conscience.  Before  we  part  I 
take  an  opportunity  to  tell  him  that  if  the  Tiers  are  now 
very  moderate  they  will  probably  succeed,  but  if  violent 
must  inevitably  fail.  From  Madame  de  Tesse  I  go  to  see 
Madame  Montvoisseux,  where  the  party  is  aristocratical — 
delighted  with  the  King.  In  the  course  of  conversation 
they  tell  me  some  anecdotes  which  convince  me  that  the 
King  and  Queen  are  confoundedly  frightened,  and  I  am 
thence  led  to  conjecture  that  the  Court  will  still  recede. 
M.  Necker  yesterday  offered  to  resign,  but  the  King  re 
fused  to  accept  his  resignation.  This  afternoon  he  waits 
on  His  Majesty,  surrounded  by  the  common  people,  who 
attend  him  with  shouts  of  applause — to  the  door  of  the 
chateau.  At  half-past  seven,  when  I  leave  Versailles,  he 
is  still  with  the  King." 

During  the  last  days  of  June,  the  mob,  composed  of 
idlers,  strangers,  the  leaders  of  the  coffee-houses  of  the 
Palais  Royal,  and  disorderly  persons  of  all  kinds,  swarmed 
into  Versailles.  Daily  those  whom  they  called  aristocrats 
were  grossly  insulted.  The  Archbishop  of  Paris  was  hoot 
ed  through  the  streets.  The  king's  secretary  and  the 
Keeper  of  the  Seals  were  insulted  until  they  were  in  fear 
of  their  lives,  and  the  secretary  died  in  consequence  of  the 
excitement. 

In  the  hall  where  the  Assembly  sat,  nominally  with 
closed  doors,  Bailey  says  there  were  always  more  than 

c/ 


106  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

six  hundred  spectators — noisy,  active,  and  disrespectful, 
often  taking  part  in  the  deliberations  by  applause  and 
hisses.  When  the  result  of  the  Seance  Royale  was  known 
in  Paris,  Arthur  Young  says,  "  the  ferment  is  beyond  de 
scription  ;  10,000  people  have  been  all  this  day  in  the  Palais 
Royal.  It  is  plain  to  me,  from  many  conversations  I  have 
been  witness  to,  and  the  constant  meetings,  united  with  the 
inflammatory  publications  that  hourly  appear,  that  nothing 
the  King  or  Court  could  do  would  now  satisfy  the  people." 

By  Thursday,  the  25th,  a  majority  of  the  clergy  and  a 
minority  of  the  noblesse  had  joined  the  Tiers.  "  Going  to 
Versailles  to  visit  the  Due  de  Vauguyon,  on  a  matter  of 
business,"  Morris  writes,  "I  hear  that  the  minority  of 
the  clergy  have  constituted  themselves  into  a  body,  and 
agreed  to  the  King's  propositions.  The  majority  of  the 
noblesse,  who  of  course  continue  to  be  the  body,  have 
(it  is  said)  determined  also  to  accept  the  same  proposi 
tions,  but  with  some  modifications.  The  National  Assem 
bly,  or  whatever  else  they  may  now  choose  to  call  them 
selves,  have  agreed  on  a  deputation  to  the  King.  The 
question  is  whether  His  Majesty  will  receive  it,  because 
thereon  depends  the  ultimate  state  of  the  noblesse." 

The  opposition  of  the  nobles  was  fruitless.  The  flood, 
sweeping  everything  before  it,  brought  them  nearer  and 
nearer  to  the  ranks  of  the  National  Assembly,  and  on 
Saturday,  June  27th,  they  took  their  place  among  them. 
Morris  says  :  "  The  nobles  have  this  day,  agreeably  to  a  re 
quest  of  the  King's,  joined  the  other  two  orders.  So  that 
at  length  the  great  question  is  determined,  and  the  votes 
will  be  par  tete.  It  remains  only  for  them  to  form  a  con 
stitution,  and  as  the  King  is  extremely  timid,  he  will  of 
course  surrender  at  discretion.  The  existence  of  the  mon 
archy  therefore  depends  on  the  moderation  of  the  Assem 
bly.  For  the  rest,  I  think  they  will  soon  establish  their 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  IO/ 

credit,  which,  among  other  things,  will  bring  the  exchange 
between  France  and  foreign  nations  to  be  more  favorable. 
If  the  money  of  this  country  is  brought  into  free  circula 
tion,  I  think  it  will  lower  interest  everywhere.  The  sum 
is  immense,  and  its  effects  must  be  commensurate  to  its 
activity  and  mass.  At  present  it  lies  dead  and  is  poorly 
supplied  by  the  paper  Caisse  d'Escompte." 

Since  the  23d  of  June  there  had  been  rioting  and  insub 
ordination  in  the  ranks  of  the  French  guards.  They  de 
clared  their  intention  not  to  act  against  the  National  As 
sembly.  Eleven  of  the  leaders  had  been  confined  in  the 
Abbaye,  and  on  the  3oth  of  June  these  men  sent  a  letter  to 
their  comrades,  asking  assistance.  The  mob  in  the  Palais 
Royal,  on  hearing  this  letter  read  aloud,  took  fire  at 
once  and  started  for  the  prison.  "  I  go,"  says  Morris,  "to 
the  Palais  Royal  to  see  what  is  doing,  and  from  thence 
to  the  club.  Find  that  the  mob  have  broken  the  prison 
and  released  some  soldiers,  who  were  confined  for  their  late 
breaches  of  military  discipline,  consequent  on  their  in 
ebriation  by  those  who  are  debauching  them  from  their 
duty.  This  makes,  as  it  ought  to  do,  a  serious  impression. 
Probably  to-morrow  will  produce  similar  and  greater  ex 
cesses.  Mr.  Jefferson  tells  me,  from  the  large  camp  which 
is  forming  under  the  Marechal  de  Broglie,  and  from  the  air 
of  many  who  are  unfriendly  to  the  present  measures  of 
the  Tiers,  and  from  the  influence  of  the  Comte  d'Artois  in 
the  Council,  very  serious  events  are  apprehended,  that 
perhaps  the  King  will  be  prompted  to  attempt  a  resump 
tion  of  his  authority.  All  this  is  very  well,  but,  under  the 
existing  ideas  of  the  moment,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether 
he  could  prevail  on  his  soldiery  to  act,  and  if  not,  his  ful- 
minations  will  become  as  contemptible  as  those  of  the 
Church,  for  in  both  cases  it  is  the  secular  arm  of  flesh 
which  alone  renders  the  anathema  terrible." 


108  DIARY   AND   LETTERS  OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

The  following  letter,  written  [July  ist]  to  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Jay,  gives  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  situation  in 
Paris.  Morris  says  :  "  I  am  too  much  occupied  to  find  time 
for  the  use  of  a  cypher — and  in  effect  this  government  is 
so  occupied  with  its  own  affairs,  that  in  transmitting  to 
you  a  letter  under  an  envelope  there  is  no  risk.  This, 
however,  I  am  pretty  certain  will  go  safe.  The  States- 
General  have  now  been  a  long  time  in  session  and  have 
done  nothing.  Hitherto  they  have  been  engaged  in  a  dis 
pute  whether  they  shall  form  one  body  or  three.  The 
commons,  who  are  represented  by  a  body  equal  to  both 
the  others,  and  who  besides  have  at  least  one  half  the 
representatives  of  the  clergy,  insist  on  forming  a  single 
house.  They  have  succeeded,  but  the  nobles  deeply  feel 
their  situation.  The  King,  after  siding  with  them,  was 
frightened  into  an  abandonment  of  them.  He  acts  from 
terror  only.  The  soldiery  in  this  city,  particularly  the 
French  guards,  declare  they  will  not  act  against  the  peo 
ple.  They  are  now  treated  by  the  nobility,  and  parade 
about  the  streets  drunk,  huzzaing  for  the  Tiers.  Some  of 
them  have,  in  consequence,  been  confined — not  by  the 
force,  but  by  the  adroitness  of  authority.  Last  night  this 
circumstance  became  known,  and  immediately  a  mob  re 
paired  to  the  prison.  The  soldiers  on  guard  unfixed  their 
bayonets  and  joined  the  assailants.  A  party  of  dragoons 
ordered  on  duty  to  disperse  the  riot  thought  it  better  to 
drink  with  the  rioters  and  return  back  to  their  quarters. 
The  soldiers,  with  others  confined  in  the  same  prison,  were 
then  paraded  in  triumph  to  the  Palais  Royal,  which  is 
now  the  liberty  pole  of  this  city,  and  there  they  celebrated 
as  usual  their  joy.  Probably  this  evening  some  other 
prisons  will  be  opened,  for  Liberte  is  now  the  general 
cry,  and  Autorite  is  a  name,  not  a  real  existence.  The 
Court  are  about  to  form  a  camp  in  the  neighborhood  of 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  109 

Paris  of  25,000  men,  under  the  command  of  the  Marechal 
de  Broglie.  I  do  not  know  him  personally,  therefore 
cannot  judge  what  may  be  expected  from  his  talents,  but 
all  my  information  goes  to  the  point  that  he  will  never 
bring  his  army  to  act  against  the  people.  The  Garde  clu 
Corps  are  as  warm  adherents  (in  general)  to  the  Tiers  as 
anybody  else,  strange  as  that  may  seem,  so  that  in  effect 
the  sword  has  slipped  out  of  the  monarch's  hands  without 
his  perceiving  a  tittle  of  the  matter.  All  these  things,  in  a 
nation  not  yet  fitted  by  education  and  habit  for  the  enjoy 
ment  of  freedom,  give  me  frequently  suspicions  that  they 
will  greatly  overshoot  their  mark,  if  indeed  they  have  not 
already  done  it.  Already  some  people  talk  of  limiting  the 
King's  negative  upon  the  laws  ;  and  as  they  have  hitherto 
felt  severely  the  authority  exercised  in  the  name  of  their 
Princes,  every  limitation  of  that  authority  seems  to  them 
desirable.  Never  having  felt  the  evils  of  too  weak  an  ex 
ecutive,  the  disorders  to  be  apprehended  from  anarchy 
make  as  yet  no  impression.  The  provincial  assemblies  or 
administrations — in  other  words,  the  popular  executive  of  the 
provinces — which  Turgot  had  imagined  as  a  means  of  mod 
erating  the  royal  legislative  of  the  Court,  is  now  insisted 
on  as  a  counter- security  against  the  monarch,  when  they 
shall  have  established  a  democratical  legislative,  for  you 
will  observe  that  the  noble  and  clerical  orders  are  hence 
forth  to  be  vox  et p renter ea  nihil.  The  King  is  to  be  limited 
to  the  exact  sum  necessary  for  his  personal  expenses. 
The  management  of  the  public  debt  and  revenue  to  pro 
vide  for  it  will  be  taken  entirely  out  of  his  hands,  and  the 
subsistence  of  the  army  is  to  depend  on  temporary  grants. 
Hence  it  must  follow  that  his  negative,  in  whatever  form 
reserved,  will  be  of  little  avail.  These  are  the  outlines  of 
the  proposed  constitution,  by  which,  at  the  same  time,  let- 
tres  de  cachet  are  to  be  abrogated  and  the  liberty  of  the  press 


IIO  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IV. 

established.  My  private  opinion  is  that  the  King,  to  get 
fairly  out  of  the  scrape  in  which  he  finds  himself,  would 
subscribe  to  anything,  and  truly  from  him  little  is  to  be  ex 
pected  in  any  way.  The  Queen,  hated,  humbled,  morti 
fied,  feels  and  feigns,  and  intrigues  to  save  some  shattered 
remnants  of  the  royal  authority ;  but  to  know  that  she 
favors  a  measure  is  the  certain  means  to  frustrate  its  suc 
cess.  The  Comte  d'Artois,  alike  hated,  is  equally  busy, 
but  has  neither  sense  to  counsel  himself  nor  choose  coun 
sellors  for  himself — much  less  to  counsel  others.  The 
nobles  look  up  to  him  for  support,  and  lean  on  what  they 
know  to  be  a  broken  reed,  for  want  of  some  more  solid  de 
pendence.  In  their  anguish  they  curse  Necker,  who  is  in 
fact  less  the  cause  than  the  instrument  of  their  sufferings. 
His  popularity  depends  now  more  on  the  opposition  he 
meets  with  from  one  party  than  any  serious  regard  of  the 
other.  It  is  the  attempt  to  throw  him  down  which  saves 
him  from  falling.  He  has  no  longer  the  preponderating 
weight  in  counsel  which  a  fortnight  ago  decided  every 
thing.  If  they  were  not  afraid  of  consequences  he  would 
be  dismissed,  and  on  the  same  principle  the  King  has  re 
fused  to  accept  his  resignation.  If  his  abilities  were  equal 
to  his  genius,  and  he  were  as  much  supported  by  firmness 
as  he  is  swayed  by  ambition,  he  would  have  had  the  ex 
alted  honor  of  giving  a  free  constitution  to  above  twenty 
millions  of  his  fellow-creatures,  and  could  have  reigned 
long  in  their  hearts  and  received  the  unanimous  applause 
of  posterity.  But  as  it  is,  he  must  soon  fall — whether  his 
exit  be  physical  or  moral  must  depend  on  events  which  I 
cannot  foresee.  The  best  chance  which  royalty  has  is  that 
popular  excesses  may  alarm.  At  the  rate  at  which  things 
are  now  going,  the  King  of  France  must  soon  be  one  of 
the  most  limited  monarchs  in  Europe." 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  Ill 


CHAPTER  V. 

Grain  under  convoy.  Tumult  in  Paris.  Fourth  of  July  dinner.  Visit  to 
Romainville.  Bread  scarce.  Paris  gay.  The  administration  routed 
and  Necker  banished.  M.  de  Narbonne.  Mobs  in  the  streets.  Ar 
morers'  shops  broken  open.  Scenes  in  the  Palais  Royal  Gardens.  Ter 
rible  night  in  Paris.  The  Hotel  de  Force  broken  into.  Morris  dons 
the  green  bow.  No  carriages  allowed  in  the  streets.  Affairs  at  Ver 
sailles.  A  cry  for  arms.  Carriages  stopped  and  searched.  The  Bas 
tille  taken.  Madame  de  Flahaut's  salon.  M.  de  Launay.  Carnival 
at  Versailles.  The  Bastille  in  ruins.  The  King  comes  to  Paris  and 
dons  the  red  and  blue  cockade.  The  procession. 

IN  the  beginning  of  July  of  this  eventful  year  wheat 
was  scarcer  than  ever.  Some  towns  had  none  at  all, 
and  such  grain  as  could  be  bought  was  musty.  But  even 
this  bad  bread  was  the  object  of  envy  to  starving  creat 
ures,  who  robbed  the  fortunate  possessors  of  it  on  the 
high-roads.  "  The  grain  supply  of  Paris  must  be  guarded," 
Morris  says,  "  or  it  would  be  robbed  and  exhausted  before 
reaching  the  town.  While  I  was  out  this  day  I  met  a  con 
voy  of  grain  coming  into  town  under  the  guard  of  a  party 
of  troops.  For  several  weeks,  all  of  the  grain  and  stores 
brought  to  this  town  has  been  escorted  in  like  manner. 
I  hear  of  an  intended  attack  on  the  Hotel  de  Force." 

The  evening  of  July  3d  Morris  spent  with  M.  Le 
Coulteux,  discussing  the  offer  of  the  farm  to  take  a  cer 
tain  amount  of  the  tobacco  about  which  there  was  so  much 
trouble.  "  Cantaleu,  who  is  there,  is  full  of  politics," 
he  says,  "  and  tells  me  I  am  frequently  quoted  by  the  aristo 
crats  as  being  of  their  party.  This  leads  to  an  explanation 
of  my  opinions,  in  which  we  perfectly  agree,  and  he  ap- 


112  DIARY    AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

pears  glad  of  it.  The  conciliatory  point  is  an  abolition 
of  the  parlements,  which  I  think  necessary  to  the  estab 
lishment  of  freedom,  justice,  and  order." 

Surrounded  by  tumult  and  disorder  on  his  own  nation 
al  holiday,  Morris  endeavored  to  find  some  consolation 
in  reminding  himself  of  the  blessings  of  peace,  and  in  a 
letter  to  a  friend  he  spoke  of  the  day  as  '"  demanding  our 
filial  acknowledgments — a  day  now  at  length  auspicious, 
since  by  the  establishment  of  our  new  Constitution  we 
have  the  fair  prospect  of  enjoying  those  good  things  for 
which  we  have  had  so  hard  a  contest."  Mr.  Jefferson 
celebrated  the  day  by  giving  a  dinner  to  the  many  Amer 
icans  in  Paris,  among  whom  were  "  M.  and  Madame 
de  Lafayette.  We  have,"  Morris  says,  "some  political 
conversation  with  him  after  dinner,  in  which  I  urge  him 
to  preserve,  if  possible,  some  constitutional  authority  to 
the  body  of  nobles,  as  the  only  means  of  preserving  any 
liberty  for  the  people.  The  current  is  setting  so  strong 
against  the  noblesse  that  I  apprehend  their  destruction, 
in  which  will,  I  fear,  be  involved  consequences  most  per 
nicious,  though  little  attended  to  in  the  present  moment." 

It  was  a  continuously  cold  and  uncomfortable  season 
which  Morris  encountered  this  year  in  France.  "  Un 
til  this  month,"  he  wrote  in  July  to  Mr.  Carmichael,  "  fire 
has  been  a  companion  not  only  agreeable  but  even  neces 
sary.  So  much  for  that  charming  vernal  season  of  Europe 
which  I  have  often  heard  celebrated  by  many  of  our  coun 
trymen,  whose  principal  merit  lies  in  having  twice  crossed 
the  Atlantic.  .  .  .  You  ask  me  if  Mr.  Jefferson  is  gone 
to  America.  He  is  not,  but  is  ready  to  depart  at  a  moment's 
warning,  having  staid  some  time  expecting  his  conge,  but  is 
still  in  the  same  expectation.  I  conclude  that  it  will  not  be 
expedited  until  the  arrangement  of  the  ministerial  depart 
ments  shall  have  been  completed.  Probably  the  Secretary 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  113 

of  Foreign  Affairs  will  decline  acting  until  appointed  under 
the  new  government.  It  is  probable  also  that  the  ques 
tion  of  the  conge  will  not  be  agitated  till  another  question 
is  determined,  viz.,  who  shall  act  here  in  the  interim  ; 
and  also  I  doubt  not  but  the  secretary,  Mr.  Short,  will  be 
empowered.  You  suppose  that  the  minister  has  intro 
duced  me  to  the  Corps  Diplomatique.  I  hinted  that  mat 
ter  to  him  shortly  after  my  arrival.  He  told  me  they  were 
not  worth  my  acquaintance.  I  have  a  set  which  I  have 
made  myself,  and  these  are  not,  you  will  easily  conceive, 
among  the  worst  company  of  Paris.  As  to  the  ministerial 
dinners,  I  have  not  been  at  them.  It  has  never  been  pro 
posed  to  me.  The  ministers,  you  know,  give  no  invita 
tions  themselves,  and  we  are  bashful.  By  the  bye,  I  some 
time  since  went  and  asked  a  dinner  of  the  Comte  de 
Montmorin,  who  very  kindly  assured  me  at  parting  that  I 
must  in  his  house  consider  myself  perfectly  at  home,  and 
this  you  know  from  him  is  not  an  unmeaning  compli 
ment.  I  am  tout  bete  that  I  have  not  since  profited  by 
these  kind  assurances.  But  what  can  I  do  ?  Versailles  is 
the  most  triste  sejour  on  earth,  and  though  I  am  tempted 
by  the  strong  passion  of  curiosity  to  go  thither  and  attend 
the  debates  of  the  Etats-Generaux,  I  have  not  yet  pre 
vailed  on  myself  to  do  it.  I  believe  no  man  ever  made 
less  use  of  strong  recommendations  to  ministerial  peo 
ple.  Probably  I  am  wrong,  but  I  cannot  help  it.  Apro 
pos,  do  you  know  Lafayette  ?  Should  you  reply  by  ask 
ing  me,  Whence  so  strange  a  question  ?  I  answer,  in  the 
words  of  the  great  Montesquieu,  '  My  object  is  not  to  make 
men  read  but  to  make  them  think.'  There  are  great  in 
trigues  against  the  administration  here,  but  hitherto  with 
out  any  effect.  I  have  steadily  combated  the  violence  and 
excess  of  those  persons  who,  either  inspired  with  an  en 
thusiastic  love  of  freedom,  or  prompted  by  sinister  designs, 
8 


114  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

are  disposed  to  drive  everything  to  extremity.  Our 
American  example  has  done  them  good,  but,  like  all  nov 
elties,  Liberty  runs  away  with  their  discretion,  if  they  have 
any.  They  want  an  American  constitution,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  a  king  instead  of  a  president,  without  reflect 
ing  that  they  have  not  American  citizens  to  support  that 
constitution.  Mankind  see  distant  things  in  a  false  point 
of  light,  and  judge  either  more  or  less  favorably  than  they 
ought — this  is  an  old  observation  ;  another  as  old,  perhaps, 
but  which  all  are  not  in  the  position  to  feel,  is,  that  we  try 
everything  by  the  standard  of  preconceived  notions,  so  that 
there  is  an  impossibility  almost  of  knowing  by  description 
a  distant  people  or  country.  Whoever,  therefore,  desires 
to  apply  in  the  practical  science  of  government  those  rules 
and  forms  which  prevail  and  succeed  in  a  foreign  coun 
try,  must  fall  into  the  same  pedantry  with  our  young 
scholars  just  fresh  from  an  university,  who  would  fain 
bring  everything  to  a  Roman  standard.  Different  consti 
tutions  of  government  are  necessary  to  the  different  so 
cieties  on  the  face  of  this  planet.  Their  difference  of  po 
sition  is  in  itself  a  powerful  cause — their  manners,  their 
habits.  The  scientific  tailor,  who  should  cut  after  Gre 
cian  or  Chinese  models,  would  not  have  many  customers 
either  in  London  or  Paris  ;  and  those  who  look  to  Amer 
ica  for  their  political  forms  are  not  unlike  the  tailors  in 
the  Island  of  Laputa,  who,  as  Gulliver  tells  us,  always 
take  measure  with  a  quadrant.  He  tells  us,  indeed,  what 
one  would  naturally  expect  from  such  a  process,  that  the 
people  are  seldom  fitted.  The  King,  who  long  since  de 
clared  for  the  people,  has  since  been  wavering.  He  is  an 
honest  man,  and  wishes  really  to  do  good,  but  he  has  not 
either  genius  or  education  to  show  the  way  towards  that 
good  which  he  desires.  In  the  contest  between  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  people  and  of  the  nobles,  he  has  by  those 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  115 

about  him  been  induced  to  give  support  to  the  latter  ;  but 
he  came  forward  too  late,  and  not  in  the  proper  manner. 
The  result  is  that  he  has  retreated,  and  the  nobles  have  been 
obliged  to  give  way.  .  .  .  The  noblesse,  who  at  this  day 
possess  neither  the  force,  the  wealth,  nor  the  talents  of  the 
nation,  have  rather  opposed  pride  than  argument  to  their 
assailants.  Hugging  the  dear  privileges  of  centuries  long 
elapsed,  they  have  clamored  about  the  Court,  while  their 
adversaries  have  possessed  themselves  fully  of  the  public 
confidence  everywhere.  Knowing  and  feeling  the  force  of 
that  situation,  they  have  advanced  with  a  boldness  which, 
to  those  unacquainted  with  all  the  facts,  has  looked  like 
temerity.  But  this  hardihood  has  imposed — those  who  are 
at  the  head  of  the  opposition  to  them  are  not  possessed  of 
talents  or  of  virtue.  The  chief  has  not  even  courage, 
without  which  you  know  that  in  revolutions  there  is  noth 
ing. 

"The  French  troops,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  would 
not  serve  against  their  countrymen,  and  the  foreign  troops 
are  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  make  any  serious  impres 
sion.  The  people  of  this  city  are  going  (by  that  invincible 
instinct  which  produces  in  every  animal  the  conduct  pe 
culiar  to  his  situation)  in  the  same  road  which  marked 
the  aurora  of  American  opposition.  Three  months  ago  the 
sight  of  a  soldier  excited  awe — now  they  speak  of  attacking 
whole  regiments,  and  in  effect  there  are  not  infrequently 
some  scuffles  with  the  foreign  troops.  Thus  opinion, 
which  is  everything,  becomes  daily  fortified.  While  I 
write  I  consider  the  sovereignty  of  this  country  as  being 
effectually  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  Assemblee  Nationale, 
for  you  will  observe  that  this  name  is  assumed  instead 
of  Etats-Generaux,  which  is  tantamount  to  an  American 
legislature  resolving  itself  into  a  convention.  They  mean 
immediately  to  form  a  constitution,  and  I  have  no  doubt 


Il6  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

but  that  they  will  obtain  the  King's  consent.  The  parti 
sans  of  the  ancient  establishments  have  contrived  to  have 
a  very  large  body  of  troops  assembled  in  this  neighbor 
hood,  but,  if  I  conjecture  rightly,  those  troops  will  soon  be 
dispersed.  The  National  Assembly  have  already  marked 
their  disapprobation,  but  the  matter  will  not  stop  here, 
and  sooner  or  later  the  King  must  send  them  away.  In 
deed,  I  am  induced  to  believe  that  this  measure  will  cause 
the  kingdom  to  be  cleared  of  foreign  troops,  for,  not  be 
ing  able  to  rely  on  the  French  regiments,  they  have  se 
lected  principally  the  foreigners.  The  probable  object  of 
those  who  are  at  the  bottom  of  the  business  is  to  surprise 
some  order  from  His  Majesty's  fears,  which  are  now  con 
tinually  excited,  so  that  he  is  constantly  the  sport  of  ap 
prehensions.  But  they  have  a  more  difficult  and  danger 
ous  business  than  they  are  at  all  aware  of.  The  Assembly 
have  determined  that  all  taxes  shall  cease,  when  they 
separate,  except  such  as  they  continue  to  impose.  This 
provides  for  as  long  a  term  of  existence  as  they  may  choose 
to  take,  and  if  dispersed,  France  will  certainly  refuse  to 
pay.  An  army  will  never  break  a  general  combination  to 
that  effect ;  so  that  either  sooner  or  later  they  must  submit, 
and  every  show  of  authority  now  will  weaken  it  without 
producing  any  other  effect.  Such,  then,  is  the  state  of  this 
country,  in  which  I  think  the  crisis  is  past,  without  having 
been  perceived,  and  now  a  free  constitution  will  be  the 
certain  result.  If  they  have  the  good  sense  to  give  the 
nobles  as  such  some  share  in  the  national  authority,  that 
constitution  will  probably  endure  ;  but  otherwise  it  will 
degenerate  into  a  pure  monarchy,  or  become  a  vast  re 
public.  A  democracy — can  that  last  ?  I  think  not — I  am 
sure  not,  unless  the  whole  people  are  changed.  In  any 
event,  however,  of  the  business  it  bids  fair  to  change  the 
political  face  of  Europe.  But  whither  am  I  going?" 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  1 1/ 

"Walk  to-day  [July  8th]  in  the  Champs  iClysees,  where  I 
meet  Mr.  Appleton  and  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  tell  me  the 
news  of  Versailles.  There  will  be  on  Saturday  night 
25,000  men  in  and  about  Paris.  Some  talk  of  a  Seance 
Royale  on  Monday,  but  this  not  founded.  Go  to  M.  Le 
Coulteux's.  They  have  sad  news  :  that  the  Etats-Generaux 
are  to  be  dissolved,  a  bankruptcy  declared,  and  the  pay 
of  the  troops  decreased,  etc.  While  at  dinner  De  Norraye 
comes  in  from  Versailles  and  assures  the  company,  from 
the  mouth  of  M.  de  Montmorin,  that  there  is  to  be  no 
Seance  Royale  on  Monday." 

The  next  day  (July  pth)  Morris  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
doctor,  "who  says  I  must  stay  eight  days  longer  in  Paris. 
He  is  certain  I  shall  soon  be  very  well.  I  should  more 
readily  adopt  this  opinion  if  I  were  anywhere  else  than  in 
so  large  and  foul-smelling  a  city  as  Paris.  As  soon  as  I 
can  get  my  business  done  I  am  off  directly  for  London. 
Visit  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  shows  me  his  letter  to  M.  de 
Lafayette  on  the  subject  of  M.  Mirabeau's  misinformation 
to  the  States-General.  To  my  surprise,  it  contains  nothing 
like  what  M.  de  la  Norraye  yesterday  at  dinner  told  the 
company  it  did  contain,  having  had  it  at  M.  de  Mont- 
morin's.  An  excellent  lesson  this,  to  be  cautious  of  be 
lieving."  A  note  this  morning  from  Madame  de  Flahaut 
summoned  Morris  to  her  apartment  during  the  impor 
tant  and  mysterious  ceremony  of  the  toilet.  Here  usu 
ally  in  attendance  was  the  abbe,  without  whom  the 
hour  of  the  toilet  was  not  complete,  who  told  the  latest 
scandal  and  read  the  latest  brochures.  At  this  hour,  po 
etically  called  la  jeunesse  de  la  journe'e,  the  arrangements 
of  the  day  were  made — the  affiche  of  the  theatre  was  ex 
amined,  graceful  scented  notes  of  tenderness  were  received 
and  sent,  gowns  to  be  inspected  and  flowers  to  be  sold, 
temptations  in  the  way  of  laces  and  articles  de  luxe — all 


Il8  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  V. 

found  their  way  into  my  lady's  boudoir  during  the  hour  of 
the  toilet.  And  her  caprices  and  fascinations  charmed 
the  particular  favorite  who  was  admitted  to  the  intimacy 
of  this  informal  morning  hour.  There  were  several  visit 
ors  with  Madame  de  Flahaut  on  this  occasion,  and,  a  pleas 
ant  chat  ended,  Morris  drove  to  Romainville  to  bid  adieu 
to  the  Marechal  de  Castries  and  his  daughter-in-law. 
"  Madame  Lebrun  is  there,  the  famous  painter,  who  is  as 

pleasant  a  companion  as  she  is  artist ;  Madame  de  

the  friend  of  the  Vicomte.  We  walk  about  the  garden. 
The  Marechal  very  kindly  asks  me  to  stay  at  his  country- 
house  for  the  re-establishment  of  my  health.  Approach 
ing  the  house  we  find  Mesdames  de  Segur  and  Chastellux, 
and  are  presently  joined  by  M.  de  Puisignieu.  He  assures 
me  that  the  scarcity  of  corn  is  excessive,  which  he  is  the 
better  able  to  judge  of  as  his  regiment  of  Chasseurs  are 
employed  in  the  escort  of  provisions  and  protection  of 
grain  now  standing.  Take  a  walk  with  Madame  de  Segur 
and  converse  on  the  situation  of  their  public  affairs,  which 
she  understands  as  well  as  anybody.  Take  leave,  with 
promises  to  return  speedily.  Promise  also  to  write  to  her. 
Return  to  town.  This  day  has  been  hot.  I  observe  that 
the  potatoes  which  I  see  growing  are  what  we  consider 
the  worst  kind,  at  least  if  one  may  judge  from  their  tops. 
I  go  to  the  club  when  I  return  to  town  and  hear  that  the 
King,  in  answer  to  the  address  of  the  Etats  respecting  the 
troops,  has  told  them  that  he  had  no  intentions  that  will 
affect  them,  and  if  their  apprehensions  continue  he  will  re 
move  the  session  of  the  States  to  Soissons  or  Noyon  and 
go  himself  to  Compiegne.  This  is  an  artful  reply.  If  he 
can  get  them  far  from  Paris  he  will  weaken  that  impulse 
which  at  present  creates  such  alarm.  But  the  evil  lies 
deeper  than  his'  counsellors  are  aware  of,  and  the  business 
now  broached  must  have  its  complete  course.  While  at 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  119 

the  club  receive  a  message  from  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who 
begs  I  will  come  to  supper  to  tell  her  the  news.  Go.  A 
partie  carrte,  when  I  arrive  and  make  the  fifth.  Stay  late, 
and  reconduct  an  abbe,  one  of  her  favorites.  He  is  hunch- 
.  backed,  and  far  from  an  Adonis  in  other  respects  ;  it  must 
therefore  be  a  moral  attachment.  This  day  has  been  hot, 
but  the  evening  is  pleasant  and  I  feel  no  small  pleasure 
to  smell  the  ripening  grain.  There  are  now,  in  and  about 
this  city,  above  a  million  of  human  creatures  whose  only 
resource  for  bread  is  in  the  vigilance  and  attention  of 
government,  whose  utmost  exertions,  however,  can  but  just 
keep  pace  with  the  necessity." 

Daily  this  great  necessity  grew  more  terrible — the  great 
army  of  the  unemployed  increased  and  clamored  for  bread. 
Rumor  announced  the  approach  of  a  large  army  from 
Versailles  to  the  capital,  and  that  the  Baron  de  Breteuil 
had  said,  "  If  it  is  necessary  to  burn  Paris,  burn  Paris." 
Gayety  meanwhile  reigned  at  Paris.  Fetes  and  dinners 
enlivened  the  frequenters  of  the  Palais  Royal  Gardens,  and 
a  ball  in  the  Champs  Elysees  kept  up  the  spirits  of  the 
fishwomen  and  the  dwellers  in  the  Faubourg  Saint  Antoine. 
Everything  and  everybody  in  Paris  seemed  ready  for  civil 
war.  In  the  council-room  Necker  and  his  friends  saw  the 
king  sleep  his  false  sleep,  which  was  a  ruse  of  His  Majesty 
to  cover  his  embarrassment,  and  they  shrewdly  suspected 
what  it  meant.  July  i2th,  Morris  dined  with  the  Mare- 
chal  de  Castries.  "  As  I  am  going  away  he  takes  me  aside 
to  inform  me  that  M.  Necker  is  no  longer  in  place.  He 
is  much  affected  at  this  intelligence,  and,  indeed,  so  am  I. 
Urge  him  to  go  immediately  to  Versailles.  He  says  he 
will  not,  that  they  have  undoubtedly  taken  all  their  meas 
ures  before  this  moment,  and  therefore  he  must  be  too 
late.  I  tell  him  he  is  not  too  late  to  warn  the  King  of  his 
danger,  which  is  infinitely  greater  than  he  imagines  ;  that 


I2O  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  V. 

his  army  will  not  fight  against  the  nation,  and  that  if  he 
listens  to  violent  councils  the  nation  will  undoubtedly  be 
against  him  ;  that  the  sword  has  fallen  imperceptibly  from 
his  hands,  and  that  the  sovereignty  of  the   nation   is  in 
the  Assemblee  Nationale.     He  makes  no  precise  answer 
to  this,  but  is  very  deeply  affected.     Call,  agreeable  to  my 
promise,  on  Madame  de  Flahaut  ;  learn  that  the  whole  ad 
ministration  is  routed  out  and  Necker  banished.     Much 
alarm  here.     Paris  begins  to  be  in  commotion,  and  from 
the    invalid   guard  of  the  Louvre    a  few  of  the   nobility 
take  a  drum  and  beat  to  arms.     M.  de  Narbonne,  the  friend 
of  Madame  de  Stae'l,  considers  a  civil  war  as  inevitable, 
and  is  about  to  join  his  regiment,  being,  as  he  says,  in  a 
conflict  between  the  dictates  of  his  duty  and  of  his  con 
science.     I  tell  him  that  I  know  of  no  duty  but  that  which 
conscience  dictates.     I  presume  his  conscience  will  dic 
tate  to  join  the  strongest  side.     The  little  Abbe  Bertrand, 
after  sallying  out  in  a  fiacre,  returns  frightened  because 
of  a  large  mob  in  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  and  presently  comes 
in  another  abbe,  who  is  of  the  parliament,  and  who,  rejoic 
ing  at  the  change,  is  confoundedly  frightened  at  the  com 
motions.     I  calm  the  fears  of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  whose 
husband  is  mad,  and  in  a  printed  list,  it  seems,  of  the  furi 
ous  aristocrats.     Offer  to  conduct  the  abbe  safely  home, 
which  offer  Bertrand  accepts  of.  His  terror  as  we  go  along  is 
truly  diverting.     As  we  approach  the  Rue  St.  Honore,  his 
imagination  magnifies  the  ordinary  passengers  into  a  vast 
mob,  and  I  can  scarcely  persuade  him  to  trust  his  eyes  in 
stead  of  his  fears.     Having  set  him  down,  I  depart  for  Mr. 
Jefferson's.     In  riding  along  the  boulevards,   all  at  once 
the  carriages  and  horses  and  foot  passengers  turn  about 
and  pass    rapidly.     Presently   after  we    meet   a    body   of 
cavalry,  with  their  sabres  drawn  and  coming  half  speed. 
After  they  have  passed  up  a  little  way  they  stop.     When 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  121 

we  come  to  the  Place  Louis  Quinze,  observe  the  people,  to 
the  number  of  perhaps  an  hundred,  picking  up  stones,  and 
on  looking  back  find  that  the  cavalry  are  returning.  Stop 
at  the  angle  to  see  the  fray,  if  any.  The  people  take  post 
among  the  stones  which  lie  scattered  about  the  whole 
place,  being  then  hewn  for  the  bridge  now  building.  The 
officer  at  the  head  of  the  party  is  saluted  by  a  stone,  and 
immediately  turns  his  horse  in  a  menacing  manner  to 
ward  the  assailant.  But  his  adversaries  are  posted  in  ground 
where  the  cavalry  cannot  act.  He  pursues  his  route,  and 
the  pace  is  soon  increased  to  a  gallop,  amid  a  shower  of 
stones.  One  of  the  soldiers  is  either  knocked  from  his 
horse  or  the  horse  falls  under  him.  He  is  taken  prisoner, 
and  at  first  ill-treated.  They  fired  several  pistols,  but 
without  effect ;  probably  they  were  not  even  charged  with 
ball.  A  party  of  the  Swiss  Guards  are  posted  in  the 
Champs  Elysees  with  cannon.  Proceed  to  Mr.  Jefferson's. 
He  tells  me  that  M.  Necker  received  yesterday  about 
noon  a  letter  from  the  King,  by  the  hands  of  M.  de  la 
Luzerne,  in  which  he  orders  him  to  leave  the  kingdom  ; 
and  at  the  same  time  M.  de  la  Luzerne  is  desired  to  exact 
a  promise  that  he  will  not  mention  the  matter  to  anybody. 
M.  Necker  dines,  and  proposes  to  Madame  Necker  a  visit 
to  a  female  friend  in  the  neighborhood.  On  the  route  he 
communicates  the  intelligence,  and  they  go  to  a  country- 
seat,  make  the  needful  arrangements,  and  depart.  M.  de 
Montmorin  immediately  resigned,  and  is  now  in  Paris. 
In  returning  from  Mr.  Jefferson's  I  am  turned  off  to  the 
left  by  the  vedette  posted  on  the  road  to  the  Place  Louis 
Quinze.  Go  to  the  club.  A  gentleman  just  from  Versailles 
gives  us  an  account  of  the  new  administration.  The  peo 
ple  are  employed  breaking  open  the  armorers'  shops,  and 
presently  a  large  body  of  the  Gardes  Francaises  appear, 
with  bayonets  fixed,  in  the  garden,  mingled  with  the  mob, 


122  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

some  of  whom  are  also  armed.  These  poor  fellows  have 
passed  the  Rubicon  with  a  witness.  'Success  or  a  halter' 
must  now  be  their  motto.  I  think  the  Court  will  again  re 
cede,  and  if  they  do,  all  further  efforts  will  be  idle;  if  they 
do  not,  a  civil  war  is  among  the  events  most  probable.  If 
the  representatives  of  the  Tiers  have  formed  a  just  estimate 
of  their  constituents,  in  ten  days  all  France  will  be  in  a 
commotion.  The  little  affray  which  I  have  witnessed  will 
probably  be  magnified  into  a  bloody  battle  before  it  reaches 
the  frontiers,  and  in  that  case  an  infinity  of  corps  bourgeois 
will  march  to  the  relief  of  the  capital.  They  had  better 
gather  in  the  harvest." 

In  the  beautiful  garden  of  the  Palais  Royal,  among  the 
flowers  and  fountains,  the  news-venders  and  the  gamblers — 
in  this  place,  which  had  been  described  by  the  anti-revolu 
tionists  as  the  image  of  the  Chimera,  with  the  head  of  a 
beautiful  prostitute,  the  tongue  of  a  serpent,  the  hands 
of  a  harpy,  with  eyes  throwing  forth  flames  and  a  mouth 
distilling  poisonous  and  patriotic  words — all  of  revolu 
tionary  Paris  had  assembled  this  Sunday,  the  i2th  of  July. 
The  news  of  Necker's  dismissal  came,  and  was  greeted 
with  a  cry  of  rage.  Camille  Desmoulins,  mounted  on  a 
table,  cried,  "Aux  armes  !  "  and  announced  that  the  Court 
meditated  a  "  St.  Bartholomew  of  patriots."  Women  dis 
tributed  green  cockades,  the  favorite  color  of  the  hour,  and 
at  midnight  the  big  bells  of  Notre  Dame  and  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  rang  out  their  alarm.  That  night,  in  Paris,  none 
but  children  slept.  At  Versailles  the  day  passed  in  anx 
iety  ;  communication  with  Paris  was  cut  off,  and  when 
the  Assembly  began  its  sitting,  the  morning  of  the  i3th, 
Versailles  was  still  in  ignorance  of  events  at  Paris.  But 
they  knew  that  the  old  ministry  had  been  ordered  to  quit 
the  Court,  and  that  in  the  new  one  they  had  small  confi 
dence. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  123 

The  next  morning  Morris  hears  from  Martin,  his  ser 
vant,  that  the  Hotel  de  Force  is  broken  into,  and  all  the 
prisoners  liberated.  "  Presently  after,"  he  continues,  "  a 
letter  is  brought  in  enclosing  one  for  me  from  Mr.  Nes- 
bitt,  who  is  at  the  Temple  and  wishes  to  see  me  ;  but  my 
cocker  tells  me  he  cannot  bring  my  carriage,  having  al 
ready  been  stopped  and  turned  back.  In  effect,  the  little 
city  of  Paris  is  in  as  great  a  tumult  as  any  could  wish. 
They  are  getting  arms  wherever  they  can  find  any  ;  seize 
600  barrels  of  powder  in  a  boat  on  the  Seine  ;  break  into 
the  Monastery  of  St.  Lazare,  and  find  a  store  of  grain  which 
the  holy  brotherhood  has  laid  in.  Immediately  it  is  put 
into  carts  and  sent  to  the  market,  and  in  every  cart  a 
friar.  The  Garde-Meuble  du  Roi  is  attacked,  and  the  arms 
are  delivered  up  to  prevent  worse  consequences.  These, 
however,  are  more  curious  than  useful.  But  the  detail  of 
the  variety  of  this  day's  deeds  would  be  endless.  I  dine  at 
home,  and  after  dinner  go  to  the  Louvre,  having  previ 
ously  ornamented  my  hat  with  a  green  bow  in  honor  of 
the  Tiers,  for  this  is  the  fashion  of  the  day,  which  every 
body  is  obliged  to  comply  with  who  means  to  march  in 
peace.  It  is  somewhat  whimsical  that  this  day  of  violence 
and  tumult  is  the  only  one  in  which  I  have  dared  to  walk 
the  streets,  but  as  no  carriages  are  abroad  but  the  fiacres, 
I  do  not  hazard  being  crushed,  and  apprehend  nothing 
from  the  populace.  Madame  de  Flahaut  is  under  a  great 
apprehension,  which  I  endeavor  to  appease.  Capellis 
comes  in,  and  when  we  are  about  to  set  off  for  the  Palais 
Royal,  we  meet  on  the  stairs  monsieur,  from  Versailles,  who 
tells  us  the  news.  Go  to  club.  Sit  a  while  chatting  on 
the  state  of  public  affairs.  M.  de  Moreton  tells  me  that 
the  present  ministers  are  a  set  of  rascals  and  tyrants, 
that  he  knows  them  perfectly  well,  and  one  of  them,  it 
seems,  is  his  relation,  for  whom  he  exhibits  no  partiality. 


124  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

After  a  while   Monsieur  de  arrives  from  Versailles, 

and  tells  us  that  the  fashion  at  Court  is  to  believe  that  the 
disturbances  at  Paris  are  very  trifling.  The  National  As 
sembly  have  advised  the  King  to  recall  the  former  minis 
try,  and  to  permit  the  Assembly  to  send  a  deputation  to 
Paris  to  recommend  the  forming  des  corps  bourgeois  for 
the  maintenance  of  order  in  the  city.  To  the  first,  he 
replied  that  the  executive  power  is  his,  and  he  will  ap 
point  whom  he  pleases  to  be  his  ministers  ;  and  he  disap 
proves  the  second  measure.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  As 
sembly  make  some  sharp  resolutions,  whose  purport  seems 
to  be  the  devoting  to  public  infamy  the  present  admin 
istration,  and  declaring  His  Majesty's  advisers  to  be  guilty 
of  high  treason.  Thus  the  Court  and  popular  party  are 
pitted  against  each  other.  In  ten  days  I  think  it  will  be 
decided  whether  the  retreat  of  the  monarch  will  be  imme 
diate  and  only  ruin  his  counsellors,  or  whether  it  will  be 
remote  and  his  own  ruin  involved  in  that  of  his  ministers. 
Some  horses  are  brought  into  the  Palais  Royal.  We  go 
to  see  what  they  are,  but  cannot  learn.  We  are  told, 
however,  by  one  of  the  orators  that  they  have  received  a 
deputation  from  the  two  regiments  quartered  at  St.  Denis, 
offering  to  join  the  Tiers  if  they  will  come  out  and  receive 
them  !  My  companions  urge  them  by  all  means  to  go. 
But  this  manoeuvre  must  at  least  be  deferred  till  to-mor 
row.  The  leaders  here,  I  think,  err  in  not  bringing  about 
immediately  some  pretty  severe  action  between  the  for 
eign  and  national  troops.  The  consequences  would,  in 
my  opinion,  be  decisive." 

"Arms  and  bread!"  is  the  cry  on  Tuesday,  the  i4th. 
The  wine  and  bread  shops  have  been  pillaged  ;  now  arms 
are  wanted.  The  mob  rushed  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville,  hear 
ing  from  an  elector,  the  Abbe  d'Ormesson,  that  arms 
were  stored  there  ;  then  to  the  Hopital  des  Invalides,  and 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  125 

forced  the  garrison  to  give  up  arms.  Then  came  the  cry, 
"We  want  the  Bastille."  Nearly  80,000  men,  with  scarce 
ly  the  semblance  of  a  leader,  had  been  got  together.  A 
horde  of  these  men,  armed  and  desperate,  filled  the  avenues 
leading  to  this  fortress,  prison,  and  tomb.  Morris  men 
tions  being  stopped  twice  while  driving,  "  to  see  if  there 
be  any  arms  in  my  carriage.  While  I  am  visiting  M.  Le 
Coulteux  a  person  comes  to  announce  the  taking  of  the 
Bastille,  the  Governor  of  which  is  beheaded,  and  the  Pre- 
vot  des  Marchands  is  killed  and  also  beheaded.  They 
are  carrying  the  heads  in  triumph  through  the  city.  The 
carrying  of  this  citadel  is  among  the  most  extraordinary 
things  I  have  met  with.  It  cost  the  assailants  60  men,  it 
is  said.  The  Hotel  Royal  des  Invalides  was  forced  this 
morning,  and  the  cannon  and  small  arms,  etc.,  brought  off. 
The  citizens  are  by  these  means  well  armed,  at  least  here 
are  the  materials  for  about  30,000  to  be  equipped  with, 
and  that  is  a  sufficient  army.  I  find  that  the  information 
received  last  night  as  to  the  arrfae  of  the  Assemblee 
Nationale  is  not  correct.  They  have  only  declared  that 
the  last  administration  carry  with  them  the  regret  of 
the  chambers  that  they  will  persist  in  insisting  on  the 
removal  of  the  troops,  and  that  His  Majesty's  advisers, 
whatever  their  rank  and  station,  are  guilty  of  all  the  con 
sequences  which  may  ensue.  Yesterday  it  was  the  fashion 
at  Versailles  not  to  believe  that  there  were  any  disturb 
ances  at  Paris.  I  presume  that  this  day's  transactions  will 
induce  a  conviction  that  all  is  not  perfectly  quiet.  From 
M.  Le  Coulteux's  go  to  visit  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  is  in 
much  anxiety.  Her  husband,  she  tells  me,  is  foolhardy, 
and  she  apprehends  much  for  his  safety.  I  am  present  at 
a  family  scene  in  which  she  plays  her  part  extremely 
well,  and  appeals  to  me  for  my  opinion  on  one  of  the 
points.  I  answer  that  in  discussions  of  such  a  delicate 


126  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

nature  it  is  a  rule  with  me  not  to  interfere.  The  question 
is  whether  he  should  leave  the  city.  I  advise  him,  if  he 
does,  to  go  at  noonday,  etc.  While  he  is  sitting  with  us, 
madame  having  on  her  lap  an  ecritoire,  by  way  of  exciting 
his  curiosity  I  scribble  some  wretched  lines,  which  he  asks 
me  to  translate  for  him.  Nothing  is  easier  ;  but,  unluck 
ily,  one  of  the  ideas  is  not  calculated  to  please.  It  was 
thus  : 

In  fever*  on  your  lap  I  write, 

Expect,  then,  but  a  feeble  lay ; 
And  yet,  in  every  proverb's  spite, 

Tho'  'tis  in  verse,  believe,  I  pray. 

No  lover  I ;  alas  !  too  old 

To  raise  in  you  a  mutual  flame. 
Then  take  a  passion  rather  cold, 

And  call  it  by  fair  friendship's  name." 


She  tells  me  that  he  looked  rather  foolish  at  the  declara 
tion  of  being  too  old  to  excite  a  passion.  I  assure  her  my 
object  was  only  to  excite  curiosity.  She  observes  that  I 
succeeded  in  my  wishes,  but  that  it  was  ridiculous  in  mon 
sieur  to  ask  an  explanation,  because  I  could  have  given 
him  the  same  translation  if  the  lines  had  been  entirely 
different." 

During  the  hours  of  fright,  tumult,  and  horror  in  Paris, 
when  the  body  of  De  Launay,  after  being  kicked  and 
dragged  through  the  gutter  and  his  head  carried  on  a  pike 
through  the  streets  in  triumph,  was  left  lying,  with  many 
other  victims,  in  the  Place  de  Greve,  the  Comte  d'Artois 
at  Versailles  held  high  carnival  in  the  orangery  and, 
with  dances,  songs,  feasting,  and  wine  in  abundance,  en 
tertained  the  foreign  soldiery.  The  morning  of  the  i5th, 

*  Morris  had  been  ill  with  a  chill  and  fever. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 

Morris  says,  "La  Caze  comes  from  Le  Normand  to  tell 
me  that  it  is  impossible  to  do  business  this  day,  which, 
I  fear,  is  true  enough.  He  also  tells  me  the  King  is  com 
ing  to  town  this  day  [July  15  th],  which  J  do  not  believe  a 
word  of.  Dress  and  wait  long  for  my  carriage.  Receive 
a  message  from  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Walk  to  the  Louvre, 
and  order  my  carriage  to  follow  ;  later  I  go  to  Mr.  Jeffer 
son's,  and  am  stopped  near  the  Pont  Royal  and  obliged 
to  turn  into  the  Rue  St.  Honore.  Stopped  again  at  the 
Church  St.  Roch,  and  a  number  of  foolish  questions  asked. 
Colonel  Gardner  comes  to  me ;  is  very  happy  to  be  in 
Paris  at  the  present  moment.  So  am  I.  Considers,  as  I 
do,  the  capture  of  the  Bastille  an  instance  of  great  intre 
pidity.  A  few  paces  from  the  church  I  am  again  stopped, 
and  a  vast  deal  of  self-sufficiency  in  the  officer  brings 
on  an  altercation  with  my  coachman.  As  everything  is 
turned  into  this  street  and  interruptions  of  the  kind  I  ex 
perience  are  so  frequent,  the  embarras  is  very  great.  I 
therefore  turn  back,  and  come  to  the  Hotel  to  dine. 
While  I  am  at  dinner  La  Caze  comes  in.  Fie  contradicts 
his  news  of  this  morning,  but  says  a  deputy  is  just  arrived 
from  the  States-General  who  brings  an  account  that  the 
King  has  retreated,  etc.  This  I  expected.  We  shall  see. 
Go,  according  to  promise,  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's,  with 
her  nephew  and  the  Abbe  Bertrand  ;  we  proceed  along 
the  quay  to  the  Tuileries,  walk  a  little,  and  sit  some  time. 
She  wants  to  see  the  deputies  of  the  Assemblee  Nationale 
come  to  town,  owns  that  it  is  foolish,  but  says  that  all 
women  have  the  same  folly.  There  is  much  rejouissance 
in  town.  After  placing  madame  at  home,  her  nephew 
and  I  go  to  the  club.  I  send  away  my  carriage,  and  pres 
ently  after  receive  a  message  from  her  desiring  the  loan 
of  it.  Send  the  servant  after  the  coachman,  but  it  is  too 
late.  His  horses  are  put  up,  and  he  is  patrolling  as  one  of 


128  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

the  garde  bourgeoise.  The  Due  d'Aguillon*  and  Baron  de 
Menouf  are  at  the  club,  both  of  them  deputies  of  the  no 
blesse.  I  learn  through  and  from  them  the  secret  history 
of  the  revolution  of  this  day.  Yesterday  evening  an  ad 
dress  was  presented  to  the  Assembly,  to  which  His  Maj 
esty  returned  an  answer  by  no  means  satisfactory.  The 
Queen,  Comte  d'Artois,  and  Duchesse  de  Polignac  had  been 
all  day  tampering  with  two  regiments,  who  were  made  al 
most  drunk,  and  every  officer  was  presented  to  the  King, 
who  was  induced  to  give  promises,  money,  etc.,  to  these 
regiments.  They  shouted  'Vive  la  Reine,  'Vive  le  Comte 
d'Artois,'  'Vive  la  Duchesse  de  Polignac,' and  their  music 
came  and  played  under  Her  Majesty's  windows.  In  the 
meantime,  Marechal  de  Broglie  was  tampering  in  person 
with  the  artillery.  The  plan  was  to  reduce  Paris  to  famine, 
and  to  take  two  hundred  members  of  the  National  Assem 
bly  prisoners.  But  they  found  that  the  troops  would  not 
serve  against  their  country.  Of  course  these  plans  could 
not  be  carried  into  effect.  They  took  care,  however,  not 
to  inform  the  King  of  all  the  mischiefs.  At  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  the  Due  de  Liancourt  went  into  his  bed 
chamber  and  waking  him,  told  him  all  ;  told  him  that  he 
pawned  his  life  on  the  truth  of  his  narration,  and  that  un 
less  he  changed  his  measures  speedily  all  was  lost.  The 
King  took  his  determination.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  (they 
say)  was  called  on  to  prepare  un  discours,  which  he  did. 
The  orders  were  given  for  dispersing  the  troops,  and  at 
the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  the  King,  accompanied  by 

*  Due  Armand  de  Vignero  d'Aguillon  was  the  second  of  the  noblesse  to  re 
nounce  his  privileges  in  the  session  of  August  4th,  warmly  supported  the 
popular  cause  in  the  States-General,  and  later  took  command  of  one  of  the 
armies  ;  was  prosecuted  in  1792,  but  escaped  by  flight. 

t  Jacques  Francois  Baron  de  Menou.  Served  in  the  Republican  army  in 
1793,  in  the  Vendean  campaign,  and  commanded  the  National  Guard  which 
suppressed  the  insurrection  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine. 


1789]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  J2Q 

his  two  brothers  and  the  captain  of  the  guard,  came  in  and 
made  his  speech.  This  produced  very  enthusiastic  emo 
tions  of  joy,  and  he  was  reconducted  to  the  Chateau  by 
the  whole  Assembly,  and  by  all  the  inhabitants  of  Ver 
sailles.  They  tell  me  that  the  Baron  de  Besenval  *  is  de- 
noncd  by  the  Assemblee  Nationale,  which  appellation  the 
King  recognizes  in  his  discours  ;  that  they  will  pursue  the 
present  ministry.  I  give  my  opinion  that  after  what  is 
passed  the  Comte  d'Artois  should  not  be  suffered  to  stay 
in  France.  In  this  they  agree.  They  say  that  they  will 
*  faire  le  proces  '  of  the  Marechal  de  Broglie,  and  probably 
of  the  Baron  de  Breteuil.  Sup  with  them,  and,  the  claret 
being  better  than  any  I  have  tasted  in  France,  I  give  them 
as  a  toast  the  liberty  of  the  French  nation  and  of  the  city 
of  Paris,  which  are  drunk  with  very  good  will.  Return 
home.  This  has  been  a  very  fine  day.  It  is  said  that  the 
King  is  to  be  in  town  at  n  o'clock  to-morrow.  But  for 
what  ?  Bon  mot :  The  Baron  de  Besenval  is  denonce  on 
account  of  some  letters  he  had  written  which  were  inter 
cepted.  The  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault,  appointed  one  of 
the  Assemblee  Nationale  by  the  city  of  Paris,  meets  the 
baron  coming  out  of  the  King's  cabinet.  '  Eh  bien,  Mon 
sieur  le  Baron,  avez-vous  encore  les  ordres  a  donner  pour 
Paris  ? '  The  baron  takes  it  as  a  politcsse.  '  Non,  Mon 
sieur  le  Due,  excepte  qu'on  m'envoie  mavoiture.'  'Appa- 
remment  c'est  une  voiture  de  poste,  Monsieur  le  Baron.' 
Another  :  In  the  procession  yesterday  the  King  and  Comte 
d'Artois,  walking  together,  were  much  crowded.  One 
of  the  deputies  said  to  another,  '  Voyez  comme  on  presse  le 
Roi  et  Monsieur  le  Comte  d'Artois.'  The  other  answered, 
'  II  y  a  cette  difference  pourtant,  que  le  Roi  est  presse  par 
1'amour  de  son  peuple.'  To  which  the  King,  not  hearing 

*  Baron  de  Besenval  was  tried  by  M.  Deseze,  a  celebrated  advocate,  and 
discharged,  March,  1790. 

9 


130  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

more  than  the  last  words  of  the  conversation,  replied,  in 
turning  round,  '  Oui,  c'est  juste.'  " 

This  was  the  last  successful  day  for  the  king.  Among 
the  deputies  who,  taking  hands,  made  a  chain  around  him 
— even  amid  the  cries  of  "  Vive  le  Roi  ! " — there  lurked 
suspicion.  A  woman  in  the  crowd  dared  press  by  the 
Comte  d'Artois  to  the  king  and  say  to  him,  "  Oh,  my  king, 
are  you  sincere  ?  Will  you  not  change  within  a  fortnight  ?  " 
"No,"  said  the  king,  "I  shall  never  change." 

On  the  i6th  a  committee  was  held  in  the  king's  apart 
ments,  to  discuss  the  important  question  whether  His 
Majesty  should  quit  Versailles  with  the  troops,  or  go  to 
Paris  to  calm  the  people.  "  The  queen  was  for  depart 
ure,"  Madame  Campan  says,  but  it  was  decided  that  the 
king  alone  should  go  to  Paris.  The  king  accordingly 
went  to  Paris  on  the  i7th,  accompanied  by  the  Marechal 
de  Beauvau,  the  Due  de  Villeroy,  the  Due  de  Villeguier, 
and  the  Comte  d'Estaing.*  "The  queen  restrained  her 
tears,"  says  Madame  Campan,  "and  shut  herself  up  with 
her  family  in  her  private  rooms.  She  scarcely  expected 
that  the  king  would  return ;  a  deadly  terror  reigned 
throughout  the  palace,  and  fear  was  at  its  height." 

"This  morning"  [July  iyth],  says  the  diary,  "my  coach 
man  tells  me  there  are  placards  up  forbidding  any  car 
riages  to  run,  as  the  King  is  in  town  this  day  between  ten 
and  eleven.  Here  is  another  day  in  which  nothing  will  be 
done.  Dress  immediately,  and  go  out.  Get  a  window, 
through  the  aid  of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  in  the  Rue  St. 
Honore,  through  which  the  procession  is  to  pass.  In 

*  Count  Charles  Hector  d'Estaing,  commandant  of  the  National  Guard  at 
Versailles,  was  intimate  at  Court.  Madame  Campan  says  he  us'ed  to  dine 
with  the  butchers  at  Versailles,  and  nattered  the  people  by  the  meanest  con 
descensions.  He  worked  hard  to  save  the  king  and  queen,  and  was  himself 
guillotined  in  April,  1794. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  131 

squeezing  through  the  crowd  my  pocket  is  picked  of  a 
handkerchief,  which  I  value  far  beyond  what  the  thief 
will  get  for  it,  and  I  should  willingly  pay  him  for  his  dex 
terity  could  I  retrieve  it.  We  wait  from  eleven  till  four. 
It  seems  that  His  Majesty  was  escorted  by  the  militia  of 
Versailles  to  the  Point-du-Jour,  where  he  entered  the 
double  file  of  Parisian  militia  which  extends  from  thence 
to  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Our  friend  Lafayette,  elected 
general  of  the  militia  of  Paris,  precedes  his  sovereign. 
They  move  slowly,  amid  the  acclamations  of,  '  Vive  la  na 
tion  !'  Each  line  composed  of  three  ranks  ;  consequently 
it  is  a  body  six  deep  extending  that  distance.  The  Assem- 
blee  Nationale  walk  promiscuously  together  in  the  proces 
sion.  The  King's  Horse  Guards,  some  of  the  Gardes  du 
Corps,  and  all  those  who  attend  him,  have  the  cockades  of 
the  city,  viz.,  red  and  blue.  It  is  a  magnificent  procession 
in  every  respect.  After  it  is  over,  go  to  dinner  at  the 
*  traiteur's,'  and  get  a  beefsteak  and  bottle  of  claret.  A 
deputy  from  Bretagne  comes  in,  whom  I  met  yesterday  at  a 
table  d'hote  at  Versailles.  We  seat  him  at  our  little  table. 
He  tells  me  that  the  King  yesterday  sent  the  Assembly  a 
letter  of  recall  for  M.  Necker  ;  that  the  ministers  have  all 
resigned,  except  the  Baron  de  Breteuil,  who  says  he  never 
accepted  ;  that  the  Comte  d'Artois,  the  Due  and  Du- 
chesse  de  Polignac,  M.  de  Vaudreuil,  and,  in  short,  the  whole 
Committee  Polignac,  have  decamped  last  night  in  despair. 
I  tell  him  that  travelling  may  be  useful  to  the  Comte 
d'Artois,  and  therefore  it  may  be  well  that  he  visited  for 
eign  parts.  We  have  a  conversation  on  the  commerce  of 
their  islands,  in  which  I  state  to  him  what  I  conceive  to  be 
the  true  principle  on  which  their  system  should  be  found 
ed.  He  desires  a  further  conversation,  when  that  matter 
shall  be  agitated.  Tell  him  I  am  going  to  London.  He 
desires  to  have  my  address,  that  he  may  write  to  me.  I 


132  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  V. 

promise  to  let  him  have  it.  He  mentions  something  which 
interests  my  friend  the  Comtesse  de  Flahaut.  I  tell  him 
sundry  truths  the  communication  of  which  will  be  useful 
to  her,  and  omit  certain  others  which  might  prove  injuri 
ous,  and  thus  make  an  impression  different  from  what  he 
had  received,  but  I  fear  the  folly  of  her  husband  and  the 
madness  of  his  brother  will  ruin  them  both.  It  is  impos 
sible  to  help  those  who  will  not  help  themselves.  I  call 
on  her,  and  tell  her  what  has  passed  in  the  government. 
Sit  a  while  with  her  and  the  Abbe  Bertrand,  and  then  go 
to  the  club.  The  King  this  day  confirmed  the  choice  made 
by  the  mayor  ;  gave  his  approbation  of  the  regiment  of 
city  guards.  He  put  in  his  hat  a  large  cockade  of  the  red 
and  blue  ribbons,  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  received  the 
general  shouts  of  "  Vive  le  Roi!  "  This  day  will,  I  think, 
prove  a  useful  lesson  to  him  for  the  rest  of  his  life,  but  he 
is  so  weak  that  unless  he  is  kept  out  of  bad  company  it  is 
impossible  that  he  should  not  act  wrongly." 

"The  weather  [July  i8th]  is  pleasant,  and  the  town  be 
gins  to  be  a  little  quiet.  I  go  to  the  club  and  take  tea. 
Kersaw  tells  me  that  the  Augean  stable  of  Versailles  is 
now  quite  clean.  The  Abbe  Vermond,  and  the  King's 
valet  de  chambre  De  Thierry,  and  the  Comte  d'Angivill- 
iers,*  of  his  buildings,  are  departed.  De  Thierry  he  dis 
missed,  with  many  execrations.  There  are  places  in  abun 
dance  to  bestow  now,  and,  of  course,  there  will  be  an 
abundance  of  intrigue  to  get  them.  In  short,  the  whole 
conspiracy  against  freedom  is  blown  up  to  the  moon." 

*  Count  Charles  Claude  d'Angiviliers,  a  patron  of  arts  and  sciences,  a  favor 
ite  of  Louis  XVI.,  who  made  him  Director  of  Royal  Gardens,  Manufactures, 
and  Buildings  ;  died  in  1810. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  133 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Dinner  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  Artists'  studios.  Dinner  with  Lafay 
ette.  Visit  to  the  Bastille.  The  Club.  Foulon's  head  carried  through 
the  streets.  Making  up  a  foreign  mail.  Madame  de  Montmorin. 
Ideas  respecting  a  constitution  for  France.  Asked  to  consult  with  the 
ministers.  Passport  for  London.  Journey  to  England.  Beggars. 
Impressions  of  England. 

THAT  jolie  intrigante,  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  never 
failed  to  pull  the  strings  that  moved  the  puppets 
high  in  authority,  had  probably  some  scheme  in  her  clever 
little  head  when  she  hospitably  entertained  her  satellites 
in  the  persons  of  the  Abbe  Bertrand,  the  Due  de  Biron,  the 
Eveque  d'Autun,  and  Mr.  Morris  at  dinner,  soon  after  the 
Augean  stable  at  Versailles  had  been  cleansed  and  there 
were  places  in  abundance  to  bestow.  "Very  agreeable," 
Morris  says  he  found  this  society.  It  would  not  be 
difficult  to  imagine  the  wit  and  abandon  of  the  conversa 
tion  ;  the  spirituel  and  delicate  repartee  which  fell  from 
the  lips  of  the  fair  hostess  ;  the  sarcastic  and  subtle  wit, 
joined  with  immense  tact,  which  characterized  the  Bishop 
of  Autun ;  the  careless,  daring  indifference  to  conse 
quences  which  seemed  to  belong  to  that  Don  Juan,  the 
Due  de  Biron  ;  the  Abbe  Bertrand,  whom  Morris  always 
found  agreeable  ;  and,  last  of  the  number,  Morris  him 
self,  not  very  much  behind  the  Frenchmen  in  wit  and  ap 
preciation.  It  is  matter  of  regret  that  none  of  the  conver 
sation  found  its  way  into  the  pages  of  the  diary  ;  but  "we 
all  go,"  Morris  says  (July  ipth),  "after  dinner,  to  visit  a 
painter  and  see  three  pieces,  in  one  of  which  the  actual 


1 34  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VI. 

execution  of  perspective  goes  beyond  the  power  of  my 
imagination,  particularly  in  the  right  hand  of  the  princi 
pal  figure,  which  stands  out  so  completely  from  the  can 
vas  that  one  absolutely  sees  all  round  it,  a  thing  scarce 
credible,  but  which  is  not  the  less  true.  The  subject  is 
Love  escaped  from  his  cage  and  leaving  by  his  flight  the 
ladies  in  anguish  and  despair.  The  expression  does  not 
come  up  to  my  ideas  of  the  power  of  this  art,  but  the 
light  and  shade  are  distributed  through  the  piece  in  a  most 
astonishing  perfection.  He  (the  painter)  shows  us  a  piece 
he  is  now  about  for  the  King,  taken  from  the  ^Eneid  : 
Venus  restraining  the  arm  which  is  raised  in  the  temple 
of  the  Vestals  to  shed  the  blood  of  Helen.  I  tell  him  he 
had  better  paint  the  Storm  of  the  Bastille  ;  it  will  be  a 
more  fashionable  picture,  and  that  one  trait  will  admit  of 
a  fine  effect.  It  is  of  the  garde  fran$aise  who,  having  got 
hold  of  the  gate  and  unable  to  bring  it  down,  cries  to  his 
comrades  of  the  populace  to  pull  by  his  legs.  And  this 
man  has  the  force  and  courage  to  hold  while  a  dozen  of 
them  pull  him  like  a  rope  and  bring  down  the  gate,  so 
that  he  actually  sustains  the  rack.  To  represent  him 
drawn  out  of  joint,  with  his  head  turned  round,  encourag 
ing  them  to  pull  still  harder,  must,  I  think,  have  a  fine 
effect.  L'Eveque  d'Autun  agrees  with  me  entirely  in  this 
sentiment.  Returning,  we  find  M.  de  Rouille,  who,  I  find, 
is  writing  a  history  of  the  present  revolution.  He  prom 
ises  to  meet  me  at  the  club  and  give  me  the  news  of  M. 
Necker.  Take  the  abbe  home,  and  then  go  to  the  club. 
M.  de  Rouille  tells  me  they  have  yet  no  news  of  M. 
Necker,  but  expect  an  express  to-night,  and  that  if  he  is 
not  yet  farther  than  Brussels  he  will  be  in  to-morrow 
night.  Recommend  a  subscription  to  collect  the  various 
papers  found  in  the  Bastille,  and  then  to  employ  an  able 
hand  in  writing  the  annals  of  that  diabolical  castle,  from 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  135 

the  beginning  of  Louis  Fourteenth's  reign  to  the  present 
moment.  Something  of  this  sort  will,  I  believe,  be  done. 
Give  the  hint  also  of  forming  the  Garde  Franeaise  into  a 
city  guard,  with  very  high  pay,  and  keep  up  the  corps  by 
putting  with  it  all  those  who,  by  good  conduct,  shall  have 
merited  something  more  than  the  rank  of  a  common  sol 
dier,  without  being  qualified  for  that  of  a  sergeant.  They 
know  not  what  to  do  at  present  with  this  corps." 

"  This  morning  [July  2oth]  I  go  to  the  Hotel  de  Ville. 
With  much  difficulty  find  out  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,* 
who  is  exhausted  by  a  variety  of  attentions.  Tell  him  I 
will  send  his  letters  to  America,  and  he  must  give  me  a 
passport  to  visit  the  Bastille.  Agree  to  dine  with  him,  on 
condition  that  I  may  bring  my  own  wine.  Return  home, 
write,  and  at  four  go  to  the  Hotel  de  Lafayette.  Find 

there  Madame  and  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault,  M. , 

etc.,  to  dine.  He  gives  me  my  passport  for  the  Bastille. 
Suggest  to  him  my  plan  respecting  the  Garde  Francaise 
which  he  likes.  Advise  him  to  have  a  completed  plan  for 
the  militia  prepared,  and  to  submit  it  to  the  committee. 
Ask  him  if  he  can  think  of  any  steps  which  may  be  taken 
to  induce  the  King  to  confer  on  him  the  government  of 
the  Isle  of  France.  He  tells  me  that  he  would  prefer  that 
of  Paris  simply ;  that  he  has  had  the  utmost  power  his 
heart  could  wish,  and  is  grown  tired  of  it ;  that  he  has 
commanded  absolutely  an  hundred  thousand  men  ;  has 
marched  his  sovereign  about  the  streets  as  he  pleased, 
prescribed  the  degree  of  applause  which  he  should  re 
ceive,  and  could  have  detained  him  prisoner  had  he 
thought  proper.  He  wishes  therefore,  as  soon  as  possi- 


*  Lafayette  had  done  most  efficient  work  in  Paris  as  commandant  of  the 
National  Guard.  From  the  i4th  to  the  226.  of  July  he,  at  the  risk  of  his  life, 
saved  seventeen  persons  from  hanging  and  other  violent  deaths  in  different 
quarters  of  the  city. 


136  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VI. 

ble,  to  return  to  private  life.  In  this  last  expression  he 
deceives  himself  or  wishes  to  deceive  me,  or  both,  per 
haps.  But  in  fact  he  is  the  lover  of  freedom  from  am 
bition,  of  which  there  are  two  kinds  :  one  born  of  pride, 
the  other  of  vanity,  and  his  partakes  most  of  the  lat 
ter." 

"At  half-past  one  [July  2ist]  I  call  for  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut,  who  expressed  a  wish  to  accompany  me  to  the  Bas 
tille.  Capellis  and  the  Abbe  Bertrand  are  waiting.  Pres 
ently  after  Madame  appears,  with  Mademoiselle  Duplessis. 
We  get  all  together  into  the  coach  of  Capellis,  and  go  to 
the  Bastille.*  Some  difficulty  in  getting  through  the 
guards,  notwithstanding  my  passport.  We  meet  in  the 
architect  employed  in  the  demolition  an  old  acquaintance 
of  the  abbe's,  who  is  glad  to  be  useful.  He  shows  us 
everything — more  than  I  wish  to  see,  as  it  stinks  horribly. 
The  storming  of  this  castle  was  a  bold  enterprise.  Re 
turn  to  the  Louvre  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Make  a 
long  visit,  at  first  tete-a-tete.  Give  her  some  verses,  and 
with  infinite  coolness  tell  her  that  I  am  perfectly  my  own 
master  with  respect  to  her  ;  that,  having  no  idea  of  in 
spiring  her  with  a  tender  passion,  I  have  no  idea  either  of 
subjecting  myself  to  one  ;  that,  besides,  I  am  timid  to  a 
fault — that  I  know  it  to  be  wrong,  but  cannot  help  it.  She 
thinks  it  a  very  strange  conversation,  and,  indeed,  so  it  is  ; 
but  I  am  much  mistaken  if  it  does  not  make  an  impression 
much  greater  on  reflection  than  at  the  present  moment. 
Nous  verrons.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  is  at  the  club  to-day. 
I  am  as  cold  with  respect  to  him  as  an  Englishman.  A 
thousand  to  one  we  are  never  acquainted,  but,  if  we  are, 
he  must  make  au  moins  la  moitie  du  chemin"  This  was  Mor 
ris's  first  sight  of  the  duke,  for,  although  he  had  been  so 

*  The  demolition  of  the  Bastille  was  begun  at  once,  and  some  of  the  pris 
oners  were  found  buried  among  the  stones. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  137 

much  with  the  duchess  her  lord  had  never  appeared. 
Possibly  near  her  was  the  last  place  to  look  for  him. 

"To-day  [July  22d]  I  go  to  the  club  to  meet  a  gentle 
man.  At  a  table  d'hote  we  have  a  good  dinner  for  three. 
Coffee,  etc.,  included,  the  price  of  the  dinner  is  48  francs. 
After  dinner  walk  a  little  under  the  arcade  of  the  Palais 
Royal  waiting  for  my  carriage.  In  this  period  the  head 
and  body  of  M.  Foulon  *  are  introduced  in  triumph,  the 
head  on  a  pike,  the  body  dragged  naked  on  the  earth. 
Afterwards,  this  horrible  exhibition  is  carried  through  the 
different  streets.  His  crime  is  to  have  accepted  a  place  in 
the  ministry.  This  mutilated  form  of  an  old  man  of  sev 
enty  is  shown  to  Berthier,  his  son-in-law,  the  intendant  of 
Paris,  and  afterwards  he  is  also  put  to  death  and  cut  to 
pieces,  the  populace  carrying  about  the  mangled  frag 
ments  with  a  savage  joy.  Gracious  God  !  what  a  peo 
ple  ! " 

With  the  Seance  Royale  on  the  226.  of  July  the  crisis 
passed,  and  the  destructive  work  of  the  revolution  was 
complete.  As  Taine  says,  "  It  is  no  longer  a  government 
which  falls  that  it  may  give  way  to  another,  it  is  all  gov 
ernment  which  ceases  to  exist."  It  was  well  to  be  able  to 
turn  from  such  revolting  spectacles  as  those  which  were 
presented  to  the  public  gaze  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  and 
forget  for  a  moment  scenes  so  atrocious,  even  if  for- 
getfulness  were  only  attained  by  spending  the  entire  night 
making  up  a  mail  for  America — an  arduous  task  when  the 
grandfathers  of  the  present  generation  sent  letters  across 
the  sea.  "  I  wrote  all  night,"  Morris  says  (July  23d), 
"and  went  to  bed  at  seven  this  morning.  Waked  up  at 
eight  to  seal  my  letters.  Take  some  more  sleep,  and  be 
tween  one  and  two  respond  to  a  wish  of  Madame  de  Fla- 

*  Foulon  was  conseiller  d'etat.     His  anti-popular  opinions  cost  him  his 
life. 


138  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VI 

haul's  that  I  should  go  to  see  her,  as  she  does  not  go  as 
she  intended  to  Versailles.  She  keeps  me  to  dine,  and 
after  dinner  we  glide  into  a  confidential  conversation.  To 
cure  me  of  any  sentiment  she  might  inspire  in  me,  she 
avows  a  marriage  of  the  heart.  I  guess  the  person.  She 
acknowledges  it,  and  assures  me  that  she  cannot  commit 
an  infidelity  to  him.  I  leave  her,  and  go  to  Jefferson's. 
Sit  and  chat  and  take  tea." 

Of  Jefferson's  standing  in  Paris  Morris  wrote  to  Robert 
Morris  (July  22d)  in  the  following  terms  :  "  He  commands 
very  much  respect  in  this  country,  which  is  merited  by 
good  sense  and  good  intentions.  The  French,  who  pique 
themselves  on  possessing  the  graces,  very  readily  excuse 
in  others  the  want  of  them,  and  to  be  an  Granger  (like 
charity)  covers  a  multitude  of  sins.  On  the  whole,  there 
fore,  I  incline  to  think  that  an  American  minister  at  this 
Court  gains  more  than  he  loses  by  preserving  his  original 
ity.  Mr.  Jefferson  lives  well,  keeps  a  good  table  and  ex 
cellent  wines,  which  he  distributes  freely." 

On  the  eve  of  a  journey  to  England,  then  a  formidable 
undertaking,  Morris  mentions  going  out  to  Versailles  to 
say  good-by  to  his  friends  there — among  them,  Madame 
de  Montmorin.  "  I  desire  to  be  favored  with  her  com 
mands  for  London,"  he  says.  "  To  my  compliments  on 
the  Count  being  restored  to  his  place,  she  replies  that  she 
wishes  to  be  a  good  way  off,  that  she  is  shocked  at  the 
scenes  acting  in  Paris."  The  terrible  catastrophe  which 
later  overtook  her  and  her  family  cast  its  shadow  before 
it  and  over  her  very  early  in  the  Revolution.  M.  de  Mont 
morin  perished  in  the  September  massacres.  She  and  one 
son  died  on  the  scaffold.  One  daughter  died  in  prison, 
and  Madame  de  Beaumont  died  of  grief.  "After  dining 
with  the  Montmorins,"  Morris  continues,  "  among  other 
things  I  speak  to  monsieur  of  M.  de  Moustier.  Tell  him 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  139 

confidentially  that  he  is  not  agreeable  to  the  people  of 
America,  and  that  he  must  send  us  such  a  man  as  the 
Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne.  He  tells  me  in  confidence  the 
person  he  intends  to  send  over,  but  makes  me  promise 
not  to  mention  it  to  anybody.  Visit  at  De  la  Luzerne's. 
He  reproves  me  for  not  dining  with  him.  I  find  he  is 
taking  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  show  that  he  is  well  with  M. 
Necker,  which  proves  beyond  all  things  to  me  the  prepon 
derance  which  Necker  will  have  in  the  council.  I  presume 
the  place  of  Garde  des  Sceaux  is  kept  vacant  until  his 
pleasure  shall  be  known."  Later  in  the  evening,  "visit 
Madame  de  Tesse.  She  is  deeply  engaged  in  a  political 
discussion.  I  find  that  the  high  democrats  begin  to  cool 
a  little,  and  I  think  that  by  degrees  they  will  feel,  though 
they  would  not  understand  reason." 

Morris  had  been  requested  by  a  member  of  the  States- 
General  to  "  throw  together  some  thoughts  respecting 
the  constitution  of  this  country.  I  am  occupied  all  Sat 
urday  morning  [July  24th],  in  this  work.  While  I  am 
about  it,  Dr.  McDonald  comes  in.  I  read  to  him  what  I 
have  written,  and  see  him  forcibly  struck  with  the  thoughts 
and  with  the  manner.  This  serves  as  an  evidence  to  me 
that  there  is  some  weight  and  truth  in  my  observations." 

The  following  evening  (July  25th)  he  dined  with  Mr. 
Jefferson,  who  gave  him  several  letters  of  introduction  for 
use  in  London,  and  a  passport.  Sunday  morning  (July 
26th),  he  received  a  note  "from  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who 
has  something  to  communicate.  Visit  her  at  one.  She 
desires  to  know  whether  I  will  go  to  Versailles  to  confer 
with  the  committee  who  are  to  report  a  constitution.  She 
is  charged  by  one  of  them  to  make  this  request.  I  reply 
that  if  it  will  not  delay  my  departure  for  London  I  shall 
consult,  conceiving  it  my  duty  to  render  any  service  I 
can  to  this  country.  I  explain  to  her  the  paper  written 


140  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VI. 

yesterday,  that  she  may  translate  it  afterwards.  Have  a 
little  chit-chat,  and  dine  with  her  partie  carree,  and  after 
wards  drive  and  walk  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne.  Received 
while  I  was  dressing  a  note  from  Madame  de  Chastellux, 
desiring  me  to  interest  Lafayette  in  favor  of  a  protege  of  her 
late  husband,  who  wants  to  be  placed  in  the  Regiment  Natio 
nal.  At  five  go  by  appointment  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's. 
She  is  at  her  toilette.  Monsieur  comes  in.  She  dresses 
before  us  with  perfect  decency,  even  to  her  shift.  Mon 
sieur  leaves  us  to  make  a  long  visit,  and  we  are  to  occupy 
ourselves  in  making  a  translation." 

"  See  Lafayette  to-day  [July  28th],  to  ask  a  commission 
for  the  protege  of  Madame  de  Chastellux,  and  I  desire 
him  to  give  the  King  some  consolation  which  may  make 
him  easy,  as  it  is  of  the  last  importance  to  France.  I 
cannot  tell  him  my  reasons,  because  they  are  founded 
on  a  secret  intrusted  to  me,  but  I  am  most  serious.  As 
we  cannot  have  conversation  now,  he  desires  me  to  dine 
with  him.  Return  home  and  set  about  the  translation  of 
what  I  wrote  yesterday  afternoon.  Interrupted  by  visit 
ors.  As  soon  as  completed,  go  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's. 
Monsieur  not  gone,  as  was  intended,  to  Versailles.  This 
is  unfortunate.  He  comes  in  and  chats  a  while,  but  it  is 
clear  that  he  means  to  give  us  the  pleasure  of  his  com 
pany,  that  we  may  not  have  the  pleasure  of  his  absence. 
This  is  very  absurd.  People  who  wish  to  please  should 
never  be  troublesome.  Go  to  Madame  de  Fouquet's.  A 
lively  conversation  ;  pressed  to  stay  to  dinner.  Cannot. 
Promise  on  my  return  to  visit  her  immediately.  Make 
various  visits,  and  go  to  M.  de  Lafayette's  and  dine.  After 
dinner  mention  again  M.  Martin's  affair,  and  he  prom 
ises  to  do  all  in  his  power.  Urge  again  the  taking  meas 
ures  to  put  the  King  at  ease  (note — Madame  de  Flahaut 
gave  me  yesterday  the  communication),  upon  which  he  is 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  141 

desirous  of  knowing  my  reasons.  I  tell  him  that  they  arise 
from  a  secret  communication,  therefore  cannot  go  farther. 
Propose  an  association  to  protect  the  Prince,  and  to  de 
clare  those  who  may  insult  him  enemies,  both  public  and 
private.  Propose  a  plan  to  get  rid  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
Assemblee  Nationale,  which  is  bound  not  to  tax  till  the 
constitution  is  completed,  and  which  is  pressed  in  conse 
quence  for  time.  Then  urge  strongly  the  danger  of  a  con 
stitution  too  democratical,  and  leave  him.  Go  to  Madame 
de  Segur's  ;  take  leave,  with  an  engagement  to  correspond 
together  ;  thence  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  Monsieur  is 
there,  and  Vicq  d'Azyr,  the  Queen's  head  physician.  The 
latter  goes  away  presently.  The  former  is  called  down, 
and  she  communicates  a  request  for  my  thoughts  on  the 
subject  of  education  for  the  French.  Monsieur  enters — 
again  is  obliged  to  go  abroad.  This  is  right.  Take  sup 
per  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Some  conversation  with 
her  and  Monsieur,  who  returns,  which  is  on  the  interest 
ing  subject  of  their  public  affairs.  He  seems  well  pleased 
with  me,  which  is  uncommon.  Make  arrangements  for  a 
correspondence  with  Madame." 

All  preparations  for  the  journey  to  London  were  fi 
nally  completed — except  the  passport — to  obtain  which 
required  a  visit  to  Lafayette  at  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  "I 
do  this,"  Morris  says,  "on  the  principle  that  if  I  do  not 
take  care  of  my  own  business,  I  cannot  expect  anyone 
else  to  do  it  for  me.  Mankind  are  in  the  constant  prac 
tice  of  believing  in  the  attention  of  others,  and  of  neglect 
ing  those  who  believe  in  them.  //  faut  fare  juste.  I  find 
that  I  was  right.  At  the  Hotel  de  Ville  there  are  a  world 
of  difficulties,  but  they  are  at  length  all  surmounted. 
From  thence  I  go  to  take  leave  of  Madame  de  Flahaut, 
and  thence  to  Madame  de  Corney  ;  a  number  of  gentle  re 
proaches  for  neglecting  her,  which  I  had  well  merited." 


142  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VI. 

The  next  day,  with  post  books  and  maps,  Morris  started 
on  his  journey.  Outside  of  Paris  many  convoys  of  wheat 
and  flour  going  to  Paris,  escorted  by  troops,  and  large 
droves  of  cattle  and  pigs,  which  he  mentions  as  being 
"  the  worst  formed  animals  I  ever  saw  ;  long,  narrow,  and 
meagre,  they  seem  more  fitted  for  the  race  than  the  table," 
had  possession  of  most  of  the  road.  The  weather  was  fine, 
and  "  the  mind  and  eye,"  he  says,  "are  delighted  by  the 
exuberance  of  the  approaching  harvest."  At  the  entrance 
to  Dieppe  a  number  of  questions  were  asked,  owing 
to  the  fact  of  a  number  of  refugees  having  lately  passed 
into  England.  While  waiting  for  a  calm  sea  and  a  favor 
ing  wind  to  take  him  to  the  shores  of  England,  Morris 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  a  vessel  sailing  di 
rect  to  New  York,  to  write  to  Washington  an  account  of  re 
cent  events  at  Paris.  He  told  him  as  private  news  that 
"the  Comte  de  Moustier  has  his  conge  and  Colonel 
Ternant  will  be  his  successor  as  charge  d'affaires,  and 
possibly  as  minister  later.  The  important  trait  in  this  ap 
pointment  is  that  he  is  named  as  a  person  who  will  be 
agreeable  to  us.  You  may  rely  on  what  I  am  about  to 
mention,  but  which  I  pray  you  not  to  disclose.  It  is 
known  to  very  few  in  this  country,  and  may  perhaps  (as  it 
ought)  be  buried  in  oblivion.  The  King  has  actually 
formed  the  design  of  going  off  to  Spain.  Whether  the 
measures  set  on  foot  to  dissuade  him  will  have,  as  I  hope, 
the  desired  effect,  time  only  can  discover.  His  fears  govern 
him  absolutely,  and  they  have  of  late  been  most  strongly 
excited.  He  is  a  well-meaning  man,  but  extremely  weak, 
and  probably  these  circumstances  will  in  every  event  se 
cure  him  from  personal  injury.  An  able  man  would  not 
have  fallen  into  his  situation,  but  I  think  that  no  ability  can 
now  extricate  him.  He  must  float  along  on  the  current  of 
events,  being  absolutely  a  cypher.  If,  however,  he  should 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  143 

fly,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  predict  the  consequences,  for 
this  country  is  at  present  as  near  to  anarchy  as  society 
can  approach  without  dissolution.  There  are  some  able 
men  in  the  National  Assembly,  yet  the  best  heads  among 
them  would  not  be  injured  by  experience,  and  unfortu 
nately  there  are  a  good  number  who,  with  much  imagina 
tion,  have  little  knowledge,  judgment,  or  reflection.  You 
may  consider  the  revolution  as  complete  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
authority  of  the  King  and  of  the  nobility  is  completely 
subdued,  but  yet  I  tremble  for  the  constitution.  They 
have  all  that  romantic  spirit,  and  all  those  romantic  ideas 
of  government  which,  happily  for  America,  we  were  cured 
of  before  it  was  too  late.  They  are  advancing  rapidly.  I 
pass  over  those  facts  which  you  cannot  but  know,  to  men 
tion  in  one  word  that  the  whole  army  of  France  have  de 
clared  for  liberty,  and  that  one  reason  why  His  Majesty  has 
not  taken  the  step  above  mentioned  is  that  he  does  not 
know  a  single  regiment  that  would  obey  him." 

The  usual  vicissitudes  of  weather  and  the  usual  discom 
forts  of  the  Channel  awaited  Morris  when  he  started  for 
England  on  the  ist  of  August,  and  it  was  not  until  the  3d 
that  he  finally  landed  at  Brighthelmstone.  Three  miles 
from  shore  the  vessel  was  met  by  a  small  boat,  and  the 
passengers  were  landed  on  the  beach,  and  "got  on  shore 
dry,  a  thing  which  does  not  always  happen,"  he  says. 
Lodgings  were  difficult  to  find  owing  to  the  races,  and 
the  traveller  did  not  linger  longer  than  to  notice  that  the 
"cleanliness  of  the  place  forms  a  reverse  of  the  place  I 
quitted  yesterday,  although  that  is  the  cleanest  town, 
except  Versailles,  I  have  seen  in  France."  After  many 
detentions  and  failures  to  provide  post-horses,  the  races 
at  Lewes  being  the  absorbing  interest  of  the  moment, 
Morris  at  length  started  for  London.  "  In  descending  a 
hill,"  he  says,  "we  arrive  at  a  seat  of  Lord  Abergavenny. 


144  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VI. 

The  old  castle,  which  was  once,  I  suppose,  the  residence 
of  the  feudal  tyrant  of  this  soil,  becomes  now  simply  an 
object  of  ornament  to  the  grounds.  The  house  is  neat, 
and  the  clumps  of  trees  which  are  strewed  upon  the  wav 
ing  ground  of  vivid  green  derive  an  additional  beauty  by 
contrast.  At  Croydon  they  are  holding  the  sessions,  so 
that  we  have  great  difficulty  to  get  anything.  In  the  last 
ten  miles  I  see  some  fine  forest-trees,  but  not  before. 
Those  which  had  met  my  view  were  small  and  low,  so  that 
I  actually,  in  one  instance,  took  the  forest  for  a  large 
orchard  till  I  came  very  near.  I  have  as  yet  seen  no  land 
in  Europe  equal  to  our  best  soil  in  America,  and  very  lit 
tle  as  good  as  our  second  quality.  All  the  difference  of 
product  arises  from  culture.  With  perpetual  rains  they 
have  but  little  water,  and,  to  my  great  surprise,  in  this  hilly 
country,  I  have  found  no  springs  or  rivulets." 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS,  145 


CHAPTER  VII. 

London.  The  Haymarket  Theatre.  The  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne.  Trum- 
bull.  The  refugees.  Lady  Dunmore.  The  Cosways.  Hon.  Mrs. 
Darner.  Society  duties.  Strictures  on  society.  Sail  on  the  Thames. 
Downe  Place.  Returns  to  Paris.  Critical  state  of  affairs.  Madame 
de  Tesse.  Lafayette.  Public  opinion  sets  against  the  National  As 
sembly.  Finances.  Scarcity  of  bread.  The  Flanders  Regiment* 
Social  life.  Prepares  a  memorandum  on  subsistence.  The  queen. 
Madame  de  Flahaut.  The  banners  blessed.  The  opera.  Resistance 
to  authority  among  the  bakers.  Versailles.  Question  on  the  finances. 
Mirabeau  speaks  in  the  Assembly.  Meets  Madame  de  Stael. 
Conversation  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Asked  to  furnish  flour  for 
Paris. 

AS  the  traveller  neared  London,  the  absence  of  "  those 
fine  trees  which  give,"  he  says,  "  an  air  of  mag 
nificence  to  the  approaches  to  Paris "  surprised  him. 
"  The  last  stage  brings  me  to  the  Adelphi  Hotel,  and 
early  next  morning  Mr.  Parker  comes  to  breakfast.  He 
is  to  get  me  good  lodgings  and  a  chariot,  and  will  send 
out  his  servant  for  these  purposes  while  I  dress.  He  has 
found  lodgings,  according  to  Mr.  Parker's  directions,  in 
the  same  street  with  him.  Cela  s'entend.  Do  not  observe 
it,  even  by  a  look.  The  dealer  in  carriages  enters,  and  we 
agree  for  a  carriage  and  horses,  which  will  cost  me  four 
guineas  a  week,  besides  a  shilling  a  day  for  board  wages 
for  the  coachman.  This  is  pretty  well.  Go  to  look  at  the 
lodgings.  They  are  very  indifferent,  at  two  guineas  per 
week.  Go  from  thence  to  Frome's  Hotel,  Covent  garden, 
where  I  take  rooms  at  six  shillings  per  day,  and  one  shil 
ling  for  my  servant.  This  is  dear  ;  however,  it  will  do  till 

10 


146  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

I  can  get  in  a  better  position.  After  dinner  Mr.  Parker 
goes  with  me  to  the  Haymarket  Theatre.  This,  it  seems, 
is  a  benefit  night.  The  pieces  and  performers,  one  only 
excepted,  are  alike  wretched.  From  the  applause  lavished 
by  the  audience  I  am  led  to  question  their  taste,  or  give 
entirely  up  my  own.  In  the  box  adjoining  to  us  is  Lady 
Dunmore  and  family.  With  the  aid  of  rouge  she  looks  as 
well,  I  think,  as  when  I  saw  her  in  America,  near  twenty 
years  ago,  and  then  she  was  pretty  well  advanced,  and 
rather  to  be  admired  for  grace  than  beauty." 

A  visit  to  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne,  *  the  French  am 
bassador,  was  among  his  first  duties.  "  His  reception," 
Morris  says,  "  is  perfectly  good."  The  next  visit  was  one  of 
business,  to  Mr.  Bourdieu.  "  I  talk  to  him  about  a  loan. 
He  tells  me  that  nothing  of  that  kind  can  be  done  in  the  city; 
that  perhaps  I  may  meet  with  people  at  the  west  end  of 
the  town  who  are  better  disposed,  but  that  the  name  of 
America  terrifies  the  mercantile  part  of  the  community. 
I  receive  some  letters  here,  but  none  from  Holland,  so  that 
I  cannot  go  to  work  for  relief  of  Robert  Morris's  affairs. 
Madame  de  Flahaut,  in  a  letter,  gives  me  an  account  of 
poor  Besenval's  capture  and  detention." 

Next  day  (August  jth)  he  goes  to  see  R.  Penn,  who  re 
ceives  him  quite  en  famille.  "  He  tells  me  the  state  of  the 
family  claims  and  his  own,  and  desires  me  to  consider 
myself  at  home  at  his  house.  Call  on  Sir  John  Sinclair  f 
at  Whitehall.  He  is  out  of  town.  Later  go  to  dine  with 
the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne  ;  several  of  the  Corps  Diploma 
tique.  The  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne  informs  me  of  the  or- 

*  Anne  Cesar,  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne,  ambassador  to  London  in  1788. 
He  had  been  sent  in  1779  to  the  United  States  as  minister,  and,  without  in 
structions  from  his  government,  performed  the  responsible  duties  of  the  posi 
tion  with  credit.  He  died  at  London  in  1791. 

t  Sir  John  Sinclair  originated  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  wrote  many 
valuable  books,  essays  on  agriculture,  etc. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  147 

ganization  of  their  ministry :  M.  de  la  Tour  du  Pin,  Min 
ister  of  War  ;  1'Archeveque  of  Bordeaux,  Garde  des 
Sceaux,  which  Malesherbes  refused.  I  am  sorry  for  this 
refusal  Tell  the  Marquis  that  I  understood  the  Bishop 
of  Autun  was  thought  of  for  it.  He  says  that  he  has  not 
the  right  kind  of  head  for  this  office.  Thence  I  conclude 
that  he  is  rather  visionary  in  his  ideas,  and  perhaps  he  is, 
for  that  is  the  common  misfortune  of  men  of  genius  who 
do  not  sufficiently  mix  in  the  affairs  of  the  world." 

"To-day  [August  8thJ  I  call  on  Mr.  Trumbull  the  painter. 
He  shows  me  a  small  piece  he  has  copied  from  his  original 
Sortie  of  Gibraltar,  which  I  think  very  fine.  Return  home 
and  dine  on  a  composition  called  turtle-soup,  with  which 
I  drink  a  composition  called  claret.  The  latter  is  prefer 
able  to  the  former."  To  the  refugees  who  were  always 
to  be  found  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  drawing-rooms 
of  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne,  Morris  tried  to  admin 
ister  a  little  comfort.  He  says  of  them  :  "  The  refugees 
talk  a  little  refugee,  which  is  natural.  I  tell  them  that  all 
the  little  commotions — burning  castles,  etc. — though  pain 
ful  and  distressing,  are  but  specks  in  the  great  business, 
and  will  if  they  get  a  good  constitution  be  soon  forgotten. 
M.  de  Fitzjames  inquires  of  me  the  news  from  Paris, 
but  I  find  that  we  left  it  about  the  same  time.  I  did  not 
recollect  him,  but  it  seems  that  we  had  met  at  club.  The 
Marquis  de  la  Luzerne  takes  me  aside,  and  we  converse  a 
little  on  their  politics.  I  think  his  object  is  merely  to  show 
an  attention  before  his  company  which  may  be  useful  to 
me.  In  going  in  to  dinner  M.  Gate,  the  Lieutenant  de 
Police,  takes  hold  of  me,  and  says  he  will  not  be  parted. 
Seats  himself  next  me,  and  at  dinner  tells  me  his  story. 
All  this  requires  polite  attention  on  my  part,  which  is  paid. 
Dine  on  a  very  fine  trout,  or  rather  a  part  of  one,  which  I 
think  must  have  weighed  about  eight  pounds.  Observe 


148  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

that  I  am  somewhat  a  favorite  with  Madame  la  Vicomtesse. 
This  must  be  kept  up, ' et  pour  cause.  Inquiries  are  made, 
I  find,  by  Lady  Dunmore  and  her  daughter  about  the 
jambe  de  bois.  Lady  Dunmore  makes  acquaintance  after 
dinner  ;  asks  the  opinion  of  my  countrymen  about  his  lord 
ship  ;  I  tell  her  candidly.  We  have  a  conversation  which 
she  is  pleased  with,  and  to  my  surprise,  and  I  dare  say  her 
own,  we  are  on  terms  of  great  familiarity.  La  Luzerne 
and  Capellis,  I  find,  remark  on  it,  so  that  I  am  obliged  to 
join  them  and  stop  the  laugh.  The  French  tell  him  a 
world  of  wonders  and  confusions,  upon  which  I  take  him 
aside  and  tell  him  to  believe  nothing  of  what  they  say ; 
that  it  is  refugee  news,  and  he  knows  well  what  sort  of 
thing  that  is.  The  Princesse  Galitzen,  who  shares  in  the 
conversation  with  Lady  Dunmore,  is,  I  find,  like  others  to 
tally  mistaken  with  respect  to  the  troubles  in  France.  They 
all  supposed,  as  was  supposed  in  the  American  Revolution, 
that  there  are  certain  leaders  who  occasion  everything, 
whereas  in  both  instances  it  is  the  great  mass  of  the  peo 
ple.  At  going  away  her  ladyship  thanks  me  for  answer 
ing  her  questions." 

Among  other  letters,  Morris  had  one  to  Mrs.  Cosway, 
the  wife  of  the  distinguished  miniature-painter.  By  ap 
pointment,  one  evening  was  spent  in  her  drawing-rooms, 
where  were  a  "very  genteel  company,"  he  says,  "  the 
Dowager  Duchess  of  Bedford  among  them.  Music  very 
good.  The  arrangement  of  the  company,  however,  is 
stiff  and  formal.  There  must  be  in  this,  as  in  other  coun 
tries,  the  ways  of  bringing  people  together,  even  to  in 
timacy,  but  it  appears  at  the  first  aspect  to  be  rather 
difficult.  We  shall  see.  I  observe  to  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Da 
rner  *  that  the  French,  having  no  liberty  in  their  govern- 

*  Anne  Seymour  Darner,  the  sculptress,  was  born  in  1748,  and  was  the  only 
child  of  Field  Marshal  Conway.     Her  family  connections  were  of  the  very 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  149 

ment,  have  compensated  to  themselves  that  misfortune 
by  bestowing  a  great  deal  upon  society  ;  but  that  I  fear 
in  England  it  is  confined  to  the  House  of  Commons.  She 
seems  to  suppose  the  latter  part  of  this  observation  ironi 
cal,  and  tells  me,  with  an  animated  smile,  that  we  enjoy 
liberty  in  my  country.  This  lady  is  a  great  statuary,  and 
is  doing  the  King.  Quaere,  if  she  copies  after  nature,  for 
she  does  it  as  large  as  life.  Her  taste  is  justly  considered 
as  extraordinary,  but  I  doubt  whether  she  is  the  single 
instance  within  these  three  kingdoms  of  a  fair  one  who 
keeps  at  home  a  block  to  work  upon.  Visit  at  the  assem- 
blee  of  Madame  de  la  Luzerne.  The  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Luxemburg  are  there,  and  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Leeds.  After  some  time  the  Duke  of  Leeds  makes  up 
and  inquires  of  Mr.  Adams.  A  light  conversation  ensues. 
After  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Leeds  retire,  Lady  Dun- 
more,  whom  I  had  seen  at  Mrs.  Cosway's,  comes  in.  A 
little  sociable  chat  in  the  small  circle  until  late." 

Together  with  his  very  important  and  difficult  business 
affairs,  Morris  found  that  his   rapidly   increasing   society 

best  blood  in  England,  and  her  birth  and  beauty  entitled  her  to  a  life  of  ease 
and  luxury,  but  she  early  developed  a  taste  for  art  and  studies,  which  taste 
her  cousin,  Horace  Walpole,  took  great  pleasure  in  directing.  David  Hume 
seems  to  have  given  her  the  first  impulse  toward  the  art  of  sculpture  when, 
on  one  occasion,  while  walking  together,  they  met  a  vender  of  plaster  casts. 
Hume  stopped  to  speak  to  the  lad,  looked  at  his  wares,  and  gave  him  a  shil 
ling.  The  lively  Miss  Conway  laughed  at  him  for  wasting  time  on  such  pal 
try  images  ;  whereupon  the  historian  gently  reproved  her,  telling  her  not  to 
be  so  severe,  that  it  had  required  both  science  and  genius  to  make  even  such 
poor  imitations,  and,  he  continued,  "with  all  your  attainments  you  cannot 
produce  such  works."  After  this  conversation  she  set  herself  to  model  in 
wax,  and  finally  to  cut  the  marble.  Mrs.  Damer  was  one  of  the  trio  of  beau 
tiful  women  who  canvassed  London  during  the  bitterly  contested  election  of 
Charles  James  Fox  for  Westminster.  On  the  death  of  Horace  Walpole  Mrs. 
Damer  found  herself  the  possessor  of  his  Gothic  villa  at  Strawberry  Hill,  and 
here,  amid  the  splendid  confusion  of  things  valuable  and  otherwise,  and  sur 
rounded  by  her  chosen  companions,  Mrs.  Berry,  Mrs  Garrick,  Mrs.  Siddons, 
and,  last  but  not  least,  Joanna  Baillie,  she  passed  the  last  years  of  her  life. 
She  died  in  her  eightieth  year,  after  an  eventful  and  interesting  career. 


I  50  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

duties  kept  him  more  than  agreeably  occupied.  "  From 
the  necessity  of  being  my  own  clerk,"  as  he  wrote  to 
Robert  Morris,  August  26th,  "and  the  interruptions  to 
which  I  am  constantly  exposed,  you  will  easily  perceive 
that  my  moments  are  few  and  precious.  Indeed,  in  the 
way  I  now  live,  I  might  pass  five  years  in  London  and  yet 
know  but  little  more  of  it  than  when  I  left  Philadelphia." 
He  regretted  much  that  he  had  been  able  to  make  so 
little  progress  in  Mr.  Robert  Morris's  affairs.  "  But  I 
have  had,"  he  wrote,  "  the  wind  ahead  of  me  ever  since  I 
left  the  Capes  of  Delaware.  It  will  be  favorable  by  and 
bye." 

The  London  "  rout  "  was  evidently  not  in  accord  with 
Morris's  taste,  and  he  expresses  an  ever-fresh  astonish 
ment  at  the  stiffness  of  the  drawing-rooms  and  the  la 
dies.  "  I  go  to-night  to  Mrs.  Cosway's,"  he  says.  "  She  is 
vastly  pleasant,  but  her  ladies  are  all  ranged  in  battalia 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room.  Discuss  a  little  with 
her  .the  froideur  anglaise,  and,  while  she  is  in  conversation 
with  them,  throw  the  pith  of  that  discussion  into  these 
stanzas,  which  I  leave  with  her,  being  a  kind  of  address 
to  the  ladies. 

By  nature's  various  beauty  blest, 

Ah  !   why  your  wealth  conceal, 
And  why,  in  cold  indifference  drest, 

Her  blessings  not  reveal? 

Vast  treasures  in  a  heart  confined 

No  pleasures  can  impart ; 
And  so  the  treasures  of  the  mind, 

And  feelings  of  the  heart. 

Your  conversation,  like  your  coin, 

Is  gold,  but  yet  'tis  strange 
How  oft,  when  social  circles  join, 

You  want  a  little  change. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  I5l 

Observe  that  she  is  about  to  communicate  this  for  their 
edification,  and  therefore  take  Capellis  off  with  me." 

Notwithstanding  the  multiplicity  of  his  engagements, 
Morris  found  time  to  see  a  few  of  the  sights  of  London. 
He  speaks  of  taking  a  wherry  at  Westminster  Bridge  and 
going  down  the  Thames.  "  The  Bridge  of  Blackfriars  is 
crumbling  to  pieces,  and  London  Bridge  does  not  seem 
formed  in  a  manner  to  last  forever.  The  famous  building 
of  Somerset  House,  which  I  had  heard  vaunted  highly, 
seems  to  be  built  in  a  paltry  style,  and  the  front  of  stone 
accords  but  illy  with  the  sides  of  brick.  The  shipping  are 
the  really  curious  object  here.  These  give  to  the  reflect 
ing  mind  a  high  idea  of  the  commerce  and  wealth  of  this 
great  city.  Having  gone  down  to  the  farthest  of  those 
which  can  properly  be  said  to  lie  in  the  port  of  London, 
we  ascend  the  river  again  to  the  Tower  stairs,  where  my 
carriage  is  waiting.  The  wherries  of  this  river  are  admi 
rably  calculated  for  stemming  rapid  currents." 

A  visit  to  Downe  Place,  the  country-seat  of  John  B. 
Church,*  Member  of  Parliament  from  Wendover,  proved 
most  interesting.  One  day  (September  6th)  was  delight 
fully  employed  visiting  Herschel.  "  He  receives  us," 
Morris  says,  "  in  a  manner  which  is,  I  think,  peculiar  to 
men  of  his  kind  of  greatness  :  simplicity,  modesty,  mild 
ness.  He  shows  and  explains  his  great  telescope  ;  a 


*  John  B.  Church  had  been  Commissary-General  under  Lafayette  in  Amer 
ica  during  the  Revolution  ;  an  Englishman  of  very  high  social  position  and 
great  wealth,  he  made  himself  prominent  as  a  citizen  of  New  York,  and  while 
there  married  Miss  Angelica  Schuyler,  a  member  of  a  family  who  warmly  es 
poused  the  cause  of  America.  On  his  return  to  England  Mr.  Church  found 
himself  out  of  favor  with  the  Tories,  but  thoroughly  independent  in  politics  as 
in  purse,  he  soon  found  friends  among  the  Pitt  and  Fox  party,  and  was  elected 
to  Parliament  from  Wendover.  Mr.  Church's  house  in  London,  was  the 
frequent  resort  of  Pitt,  Fox,  and  Burke.  Talleyrand  sought  refuge  under 
his  roof,  and  through  Church's  exertions,  when  ordered  by  government  to 
leave  London  in  twenty-four  hours  Talleyrand  was  enabled  to  flee  to  America. 


152  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

speculum  now  polishing  for  it  weighs  1,400  Ibs. — that 
in  present  use,  2,500.  The  polishing  at  present  is  per 
formed  by  a  machine,  but  formerly  it  was  done  by  hand, 
and  twenty-two  men  were  engaged  in  that  work  twenty 
weeks.  The  concavity  of  this  speculum  is  about  two- 
tenths  of  an  inch,  the  diameter  about  three  feet,  I  think. 
The  substance  is  a  composition  of  metals.  From  thence 
we  go  to  Windsor  Castle,"  the  view  from  which  especially 
impressed  him. 

Arrived  in  town  on  the  8th,  Mr.  Parker  communicated 
intelligence  which,  Morris  says,  "affects  deeply  our  plan 
about  the  purchase  of  the  American  debt  to  France.  I 
must  in  consequence  set  off  immediately  for  Paris."  For 
this  M.  de  la  Luzerne  provided  him  with  a  passport,  and 
Mrs.  Penn  gave  him  a  guinea  to  buy  rouge  for  her,  and 
on  Wednesday,  the  pth,  he  left  London.  This  return 
journey  was  made  by  the  way  of  Canterbury  and  Dover, 
at  which  place  he  arrived  on  the  loth,  and  hired  a  cutter 
to  take  him  across  the  channel.  "After  much  higgling," 
he  says,  "by  the  boatman  over  the  price,  and  having  got 
outside  the  harbor,  find  that  there  is  as  little  of  cleanliness 
as  of  morality  on  board.  At  eight  o'clock,  being  much  fa 
tigued,  I  go  below  and  lie  down  on  a  blanket  spread  on 
the  cabin  floor.  The  bed  is  hard  but  wholesome.  The 
vermin,  however,  have  not  yet  supped  and  I  must  furnish 
them  entertainment.  The  hope  of  slumber  is,  from  this 
and  other  circumstances,  soon  over."  By  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  however,  he  was  safely  on  shore  "at  a  clean 
house  and  between  clean  sheets  without  the  walls  of  Cal 
ais."  While  he  is  preparing  to  depart  thence  on  the  mor 
row,  "  a  friar  comes  in  to  beg,  with  an  air  that  shows  his 
conviction  how  improper  a  thing  it  is  to  lay  me  under  that 
kind  of  contribution.  I  tell  him  it  is  a  bad  trade  which 
he  follows,  and  that  I  understand  the  National  Assembly 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  I  S3 

are  about  to  reform  such  institutions.  He  has  heard  so, 
but  as  this  is  the  only  mode  they  have  to  get  a  living  they 
must  continue  at  it  as  long  as  possible.  I  give  a  shilling, 
and  in  return  for  the  usual  routine  of  good  wishes,  (which 
he  runs  over  with  the  same  easy  air  which  distinguished 
my  friend  Dr.  Cooper,  of  King's  College,  in  reading  the 
Litany)  I  wish  him  a  better  business.  This  wish  is  more 
sincere  than  his,  by  a  shilling  at  least.  At  eleven  leave 
Calais,  duly  provided  with  a  passport  from  the  new  gov 
ernment.  Cross  the  Oyse.  Near  Clermont,  on  its  banks, 
is  the  chateau  of  the  Due  de  Liancourt,  to  whose  inter 
position  is  attributed  the  timely  retreat  of  poor  Louis 
Seize  upon  the  taking  of  the  Bastille. 

"  Being  obliged  to  stop  at  Chantilly  to  repair  the  linch 
pin  of  the  carriage,  I  examine  the  stables  ;  a  magnificent 
habitation,  indeed,  for  twenty  dozen  horses,  who  have  the 
honor  to  dine  and  sup  at  the  expense  of  Monseigneur  le 
Prince  de  Conde.  From  thence  I  take  a  view  of  the  chateau 
on  the  outside,  but  have  not  time  for  examination.  It  must 
have  been  strong  before  the  invention  of  cannon.  At  pres 
ent  the  wide,  deep  fosse  which  surrounds  it,  and  which  is 
well  supplied  with  good  water,  furnishes  an  agreeable 
habitation  to  a  variety  of  carp,  white-spotted,  etc.,  who 
come  at  a  call  and  eat  the  bread  thrown  to  them.  My 
conductor  is  a  politician,  but  he  is  not  of  the  fashionable 
sect.  He  is  a  chasseur  of  the  Prince  and  finds  it  very 
wrong  *  que  tout  le  monde  ait  le  droit  de  chasser.'  On 
the  way  I  observe  a  very  uncommon  mode  of  hunting  par 
tridges.  The  chasseurs,  armed  with  clubs,  are  spread  every 
where  over  the  fields.  When  a  bird  lights,  it  is  pursued 
until  it  is  so  fatigued  it  falls  a  victim  to  pursuers.  Mar 
tin  thinks  it  is  a  sin  and  a  shame,  but  while  he  utters  his 
lamentations  the  postilion  turns  round  to  me  :  '  C'est  un 
beau  privilege  que  les  Francais  se  sont  acquis,  monsieur.' 


154  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

*  Oui,  monsieur,  mais  il  me  parait  que  ce  privilege  ne 
vaudra  pas  autant  1'annee  prochaine.'  " 

"On  Tuesday  [September  i3th],  about  seven,  I  arrive  at 
the  Hotel  de  Richelieu,  at  Paris.  Dress  and  go  to  the  club. 
I  learn  that  the  Assemblee  Nationale  have  agreed  to  a  single 
chamber  of  legislation,  and  a  suspensive  veto  in  the  King. 
This  is  travelling  in  the  high-road  to  anarchy,  and  that 
worst  of  all  tyrannies,  the  despotism  of  a  faction  in  a  popu 
lar  assembly.  I  am  led  into  a  little  discussion  on  this 
subject,  and  stay  to  supper,  after  which  taste  some  Hun 
garian  wine  presented  by  a  Polish  colonel,  whose  name 
ends  with  'whisky,'  but  his  liquor  is  delicious.  By  one 
means  or  another  seven  bottles  are  consumed,  and  two 
more  being  ordered,  I  rise  and  declare  that  I  will  drink  no 
more,  which  puts  an  end  to  the  business.  The  Duke  of 
Orleans  comes  in  during  this  match,  and  from  some  little 
circumstances  I  perceive  that  I  may  be  well  acquainted 
with  his  Royal  Highness  if  I  please." 

"Writing  to-day  [September  i6th]  till  noon.  Then  call 
on  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  engages  me  to  dine  to-morrow  in 
company  with  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  and  the  Due  de  la 
Rochefoucault.  I  then  start  for  Versailles,  and  call  on 
Madame  de  Tot.  She  is  at  her  toilette  but  visible.  Some 
conversation  on  their  affairs,  by  which  I  find  that  opinions 
change.  Return  to  M.  de  Montmorin's  to  dine.  Madame 
is  much  afflicted  by  the  state  of  affairs.  Madame  de  Segur 
comes  in  with  her  brothers.  She  is  in  great  anxiety  ;  ap 
prehends  that  the  King  will  fly.  I  tell  her  that  his  flight 
appears  impracticable.  She  thinks  it  will  set  Paris  in  a 
flame.  There  is  no  conjecturing  the  consequences.  A 
prince  so  weak  can  influence  very  little  either  by  his  pres 
ence  or  absence.  After  dinner  we  have  a  conversation  on 
politics  with  some  of  the  deputies,  in  which  P  endeavor  to 
show  them  the  absurdity  of  their  suspensive  veto,  and  the 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 


probable  tyranny  of  their  single  chamber.  I  had  better 
let  this  alone,  but  zeal  always  gets  the  better  of  prudence. 
M.  de  Montmorin  expresses  a  wish  to  see  me  often,  which 
I  promise,  but  think  it  will  not  be  possible  to  perform  this 
time." 

Calling  on  Madame  de  Montvoissieu,  he  found  her 
"  very  indignee"  and  adds  that  "  she,  as  well  as  Madame  de 
Segur,  wishes  to  be  in  America."  Thence  he  went  to  see 
Madame  de  Tesse.  "  She  is  a  convert  to  my  principles. 
We  have  a  gay  conversation  of  some  minutes  on  their  af 
fairs,  in  which  I  mingle  sound  maxims  of  government  with 
that  piquant  legerete  which  this  nation  delights  in.  I  am 
fortunate,  and  at  going  away  she  follows  me  and  insists 
that  I  dine  with  her  next  time  I  come  to  Versailles.  We  are 
vastly  gracious,  and  all  at  once,  in  a  serious  tone,  '  Mais 
attendez,  madame,  est-ce  que  je  suis  trop  aristocrate  ?' 
She  answers,  with  a  smile  of  gentle  humiliation,  '  Ah,  mon 
Dieu,  non.'  From  thence  I  regain  my  carriage,  to  go  to 
the  Assemblee  Nationale  to  find  De  Cantaleu.  While  wait 
ing  there  -I  see,  among  others,  young  Montmorency,  who 
takes  me  round  and  procures  admittance  to  the  gallery. 
Chance  places  me  next  to  Madame  Dumolley  and  Madame 
de  Cantaleu.  We  recognize  each  other  suddenly,  with  a 
very  pleasant  surprise.  Madame  Dumolley  asks  me  the 
question  which  I  have  already  been  obliged  to  answer  a 
hundred  times:  '  Et  que  disent  les  Anglais  de  nous  au- 
tres?'  With  a  significant  tone,  'Ah,  madame,  c'est  qu'ils 
raisonnent,  ces  messieurs-la!"' 

"  Dine  to-day  [September  iyth],  according  to  my  prom 
ise,  with  Mr.  Jefferson.  One  of  his  guests,  the  Due  de  la 
Rochefoucault,  is  just  come  from  the  States-General,  and 
at  half-past  four  Lafayette  arrives.  He  tells  us  that  some 
of  the  troops  under  his  command  were  about  to  march  to 
morrow  to  Versailles  to  urge  the  decisions  of  the  States- 


156  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

General.  This  is  a  rare  situation,  for  which  they  must 
thank  themselves.  I  ask  him  if  his  troops  will  obey  him. 
He  says  they  will  not  mount  guard  when  it  rains,  but  he 
thinks  they  will  readily  follow  him  into  action.  I  incline 
to  think  that  he  will  have  an  opportunity  of  making  the 
experiment.  Mention  to  him  my  desire  to  confer  on  the 
subject  of  subsistence.  He  says  I  must  come  and  dine 
with  him  ;  but  this  is  idle,  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  because 
he  generally  has  a  crowd  and  is  but  few  minutes  at  home. 
After  dinner  go  to  the  club.  The  opinions  are  changing 
fast,  and  in  a  very  little  time,  if  the  Assemblee  Nationale 
continue  their  present  career,  a  majority  of  this  nation 
will,  I  think,  be  opposed  to  them.  Their  adherents,  how 
ever,  are  zealous,  and  if  a  civil  war  does  not  take  place  it 
must  be  from  some  circumstance  which  escapes  my  con 
jecture.  There  is,  indeed,  one  thing  which  promises  peace  ; 
viz.,  that  from  the  King's  feebleness  of  character  nobody 
can  trust  themselves  to  him  or  risk  themselves  in  support 
of  his  authority.  But  if  he  escapes  from  Versailles  and 
falls  into  different  hands  from  those  now  about  him  there 
must  be  a  struggle.  A  slight  circumstance  will  show  how 
well  the  present  rulers  are  fitted  to  conduct  the  affairs  of 
this  kingdom.  Lafayette  is  very  anxious  about  the  scarc 
ity  of  bread,  and  holds  out  that  circumstance  for  conversa 
tion  and  discussion.  The  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault  there 
upon  tells  us  of  some  one  who  has  written  an  excellent 
book  upon  the  commerce  of  grain."* 

It  would  be  unnecessary  to  enlarge  here  upon  the  unique, 
and  at  the  same  time  pathetic,  impulse  of  the  nobles  in  the 
Assembly  at  Versailles  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  August. 
It  seemed  a  sudden  awakening  to  a  sense  of  love  and  jus 
tice,  and  a  devastating  battle  ensued  between  self-interest, 
the  traditions  of  years,  and  the  great  inspiration  which, 

*  The  Abbe  Galiani,  who  wrote  the  Dialogues  sur  le  Commerce  des  Bles. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  1 57 

born  in  that  moment,  threw  a  lurid  light  upon  the  rotten 
ness  of  the  feudal  system  and  the  pressing  needs  of  the 
people.  The  decrees  and  regulations  which  followed  the 
resolutions  of  that  night  are  matters  of  history.  Taine 
says  they  were  but  so  many  spiders'  webs  stretched  across 
a  torrent.  There  was  excitement  and  joy  in  the  ranks  of 
the  mob,  but  deep  depression  and  gloom  followed  the  al 
most  hysterical  generosity  and  self-abnegating  spirit  of  the 
nobles  during  that  memorable  night.  Louis  XVI.  ap 
peared  to  receive  with  gratitude  the  title  of  Restorer  of 
French  Liberty,  which  after  much  wrangling  was  offered 
to  him  en  masse  by  the  Assembly,  on  the  i3th  of  August. 
They  chanted  a  Te  Deum  and  struck  off  a  medal,  but  the 
homage  offered  reduced  to  nothing  the  kingly  power. 

''To-night  [September  iSth]  at  the  club,  where  I  take 
supper,  the  king's  letter  to  the  Assembly  on  the  subject  of 
the  resolutions  of  the  nobles  on  the  famous  Fourth  of 
August  is  introduced.  It  is  very  moderate  and,  like  the 
rest  of  M.  Necker's  writings,  too  long  and  flowery,  but  it 
will  excite  much  sensation,  I  believe.  It  holds  out  the 
idea  of  retreating  if  pushed  hard,  which  is  a  sort  of  invita 
tion  to  the  aggressor.  But  one  thing  that  perhaps  the 
ministers  are  not  aware  of  is,  that  from  this  moment  the 
King  will  derive  force  from  every  instance  of  disrespect 
which  is  shown  to  him.  Nothing  can  save  the  National 
Assembly  but  modesty  and  humility,  their  share  of  which 
is  not  too  abundant.  The  current  of  opinion  begins  to 
set  strong  against  the  Assemblee  Nationale.  Many  who 
looked  on  with  anxious  silence  six  weeks  ago  now  speak 
out,  and  loudly." 

Again,  at  this  time,  Morris  pressed  on  Lafayette  the 
question  of  subsistence  for  the  army.  But  he  was  slow 
to  make  arrangements,  and  complaints  came  to  Morris  of 
failures  on  Lafayette's  part  to  keep  promises.  He  says  of 


158  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

him  :  "  I  have  known  my  friend  Lafayette  now  for  many 
years,  andean  estimate  at  the  just  value  both  his  words  and 
his  actions.  If  the  clouds  which  now  lower  should  be 
dissipated  without  a  storm,  he  will  be  infinitely  indebted 
to  fortune  ;  but  if  it  happen  otherwise,  the  world  must 
pardon  much  on  the  score  of  intention.  He  means  ill  to 
no  one,  but  he  has  the  besoin  debriller.  He  is  very  much 
below  the  business  he  has  undertaken,  and  if  the  sea  runs 
high  he  will  be  unable  to  hold  the  helm." 

Necker  had  declared  in  August  that  the  treasury  was 
empty.  The  Due  d'Aiguillon  showed  among  the  expenses 
of  the  State,  the  debts  of  the  Count  d'Artois  alone,  which 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  francs  :  the 
items — gardens,  horses,  dogs,  and  mistresses.  The  August 
and  September  receipts  were  thirty-seven,  and  the  expen 
ditures  seventy  millions.  The  finances  were  at  the  mo 
ment  the  all-absorbing  topic  of  conversation.  "At  the 
club  to-day  [September  2oth]  they  are  in  violent  discus 
sion  about  the  finances,  which  seem  to  be  going  fast  to 
the  devil.  Opinions  are  changing  fast,  and  in  about  fif 
teen  days  we  shall  hear  somewhat  of  the  sentiment  the 
provinces  entertain  of  their  present  rulers." 

These  last  days  of  September  were  full  of  terror.  There 
was  no  money,  and  there  was  no  bread.  At  Versailles  the 
king,  and  those  in  authority  under  him,  struggled  feebly 
to  meet  the  emergency,  with  what  success  the  horrors  of 
the  5th  of  October  give  a  melancholy  proof.  At  Paris 
the  mob  struggled  against  hunger  and  misery,  and  died  in 
the  struggle.  In  the  midst  of  their  trouble  they  were  told 
that  the  king,  whom  they  looked  on  as  their  only  friend, 
was  to  be  taken  to  Metz.  Simultaneously  the  streets  filled 
with  foreign  uniforms.  Green  trimmed  with  red,  and  black 
cockades  were  seen.  Enemies  seemed  to  encompass  Paris. 
There  was  movement  and  excitement  everywhere  ;  a  cer- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  159 

tain  ominous  agitation  as  of  impending  peril.  Since  the 
i5th  of  September  some  members  of  the  Assembly  had 
known,  through  warning  letters,  that  the  5th  of  October 
was  fixed  for  a  decisive  blow.  On  the  i8th  came  the  news 
of  the  inarch  of  the  Garde  Francaise  to  Versailles  ;  on 
the  23d  the  Flanders  Regiment  arrived.  Meanwhile  the 
other  life  of  Paris  went  on.  The  gayety  seemed  to  grow 
more  giddy  and  reckless,  as  if  impelled  by  some  unseen 
force  to  its  destruction.  "Indeed,"  Morris  says,  "pleas 
ure  is  the  great  business  ;  everybody  has  his  country-seat, 
and  comes  to  town  to  do  business  once  in  three  or  four 
days,  and  then  works  not  to  finish  but  to  get  rid  of  work, 
that  he  may  again  go  out  of  town,  making  business  deal 
ings  with  them  extremely  uncertain."  People  dined  and 
drank  plentifully,  and  went  to  the  theatre  or  opera,  to 
forget  all  care.  Morris  mentions  Marmontel's  "  Didon," 
which,  he  says,  "is  given  as  well  as  an  opera  can  con 
veniently  be."  And  so  in  various  ways  society,  so  called, 
closed  its  eyes  to  what  was  enacting  in  real  life,  outside 
the  walls  of  the  theatre,  at  its  own  doors. 

In  the  midst  of  constant  and  varied  demands  upon  his 
time — for  the  fair  dames  of  Paris  were  exacting  of  the 
devotion  of  those  who  had  been  admitted  to  the  boudoir 
and  bedroom — Morris  found  time  to  prepare  for  M.  de 
Corney  a  memoir e  on  the  subject  of  subsistence.  Lafayette, 
when  told  by  M.  de  Corney  of  the  note,  said  that  he  would 
push  it  with  all  his  power — that  a  plan  from  Mr.  Morris 
on  subsistence  merited  every  attention. 

"  At  the  club  to-night  [September  22d]  there  is  nothing 
worthy  of  remark,"  the  diary  says,  "except  that  everyone 
seems  now  to  be  of  opinion  that  queens  should  be  exclud 
ed  from  the  regency,  on  like  principles  to  those  by  which 
they  are  excluded  from  the  throne,  viz.,  la  lot  salique  ;  and 
further,  that  no  stranger  should  be  in  the  regency.  This 


l6o  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

last  article  is  not  amiss,  if  the  first  can  be  excepted  out  of 
the  provision.  I  tell  them  my  opinion,  which  is  generally 
disliked,  but  they  will  change.  One  of  the  company  waits, 
as  I  am  going  out,  to  whisper  that  he  is  of  my  opinion." 

Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  was  deep  in  the  secrets  of  the 
government,  chiefly  through  her  intimacy  with  the  Bish 
op  of  Autun,  was  also  the  confidante  of  Morris  in  his 
plans  for  the  public  benefit.  "  This  morning  I  go  by  ap 
pointment  to  see  Madame  de  Flahaut.  She  is  at  her  toi 
lette  with  her  dentist.  Show  her  a  list  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Finances  and  take  her  opinion  of  some  characters  ; 
finally,  I  tell  her  that  I  have  a  project  respecting  them  in 
which  she  must  participate  and  must  aid  in  the  execution 
of.  She  gives  me  reason  to  expect  that  M.  de  Montes- 
quiou  will  be  Minister  of  the  Marine,  and  that  in  such  case 
good  things  may  be  done.  We  shall  see.  At  the  club  I 
hear  a  sketch  of  Necker's  propositions  to  the  States.  They 
appear  to  me  strange.  However,  no  judgment  can  be 
formed  till  we  have  the  details." 

"  Madame  de  Flahaut  has  the  latest  news  from  Versailles 
to-day  [September  25th].  She  says  that  Necker  has  made 
a  wretched  discourse  filled  with  self-applause  ;  that  the 
Marquis  de  Montmorin  will  to-morrow  report  from  the 
Committee  of  Finance  upon  his  propositions,  and  therein 
will  detail  his  own  plan  ;  asks  if  I  will  go,  as  in  that  case 
she  will  procure  me  a  ticket,  and  for  Monday  also,  when 
the  Bishop  d' Autun  is  to  report  from  the  Committee  on  the 
Constitution.  I  agree  to  both  propositions.  She  has  con 
veyed  to  Montesquioti  an  expression  of  mine,  which  by  the 
manner  of  relating  is  turned  into  an  elegant  compliment. 
She  says  he  was  well  pleased,  and  that  if  he  is  brought 
into  the  ministry  I  may  boldly  visit  him  with  the  certainty 
of  a  good  reception  ;  that  if  he  is  Minister  of  the  Marine 
we  may  do  valuable  business,  in  which,  as  in  other  objects 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  l6l 

where  she  may  be  useful,  she  is  to  participate.  At  noon 
take  her  to  the  convent  to  visit  her  relt'gieuse,  and  am  to  call 
for  her  again  at  four.  In  the  mean  time  I  go  to  see  the 
Marquis  de  la  Billarderie,  the  brother  of  the  Comte  de 
Flahaut,  to  tell  him  how  turtle  is  to  be  dressed  ;  but  we 
fall  on  the  subject  of  politics  and  the  question  about  the 
tortue  is  postponed  ad  inferendum.  Going  back  to  my 
hotel  I  am  delayed  by  militia,  who  are  going,  or  have  been, 
to  church  to  obtain  a  blessing  on  their  banners.  Later  I 
visit  Madame  de  Chastellux,  and  excuse  myself  for  not 
drinking  tea  with  her.  She  tells  me  that  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  is  plunging  himself  into  debts  and  difficulties  to 
support  the  present  faction's  temper,  and  that  the  Duchess 
will  demand  an  appropriation  of  the  revenue  to  her  separ 
ate  use.  The  sum  fixed  on  by  her  is  half  a  million.  Many 
compliments  from  M.  Lafayette  ;  he  has  not  placed  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux's  protege,  and  she  is  extremely  vexed. 
This  conduct,  which  flows  from  the  same  source  with  those 
things  which  have  brought  him  up,  very  naturally  tends 
to  bring  him  down.  After  a  drive  with  Madame  de  Flahaut 
and  two  young  ladies  to  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  I  go  to 
the  opera,  according  to  my  promise,  and  arrive  toward  the 
close  of  the  piece  at  the  loge  of  Madame  Lavoisier.  The 
dancing  after  the  opera  is  prodigiously  fine.  Vestris*  and 
Gardell,  who  are  upon  the  stage  together,  are  both  won 
derful  ;  Gardell  is  second  only  because  Vestris  is  first. 
Go  to  the  arsenal  and  take  tea  with  Madame  Lavoisier  en 
attendant  le  retour  de  monsieur,  who  is  at  the  Hotel  de 
Ville.  Monsieur  comes  in  and  tells  us  of  the  obstination  of 
the  bakers.  This  corporation  threatens  the  municipality 

*  Vestris,  an  Italian  dancer,  had  made  his  debut  in  Paris  in  1748.  He  was 
popularly  styled  the  "  God  of  dancing."  His  vanity  was  excessive,  but 
amusing,  as  is  attested  by  the  familiar  anecdote  that  he  was  once  heard  to 
observe,  that  Frederick,  King  of  Prussia,  Voltaire  and  himself  were  the  only 
great  men  of  the  century.  He  died  in  1808. 
II 


l62  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

of  Paris  with  a  discontinuance  of  their  occupation,  unless 
a  confrere  justly  confined  is  released.  Thus  the  new  au 
thority  is  already  trampled  on." 

The  question  of  the  finances  came  on  in  the  Assembly 
on  Saturday  the  26th.  A  start  at  five  in  the  morning  and 
a  rapid  drive  to  Versailles  brought  Morris  to  the  door 
of  the  Assembly  at  eight.  "By  this  means,"  he  says,  "I 
am  still  in  time  and  get  well  seated  immediately  behind 
my  friend  Madame  de  Flahaut.  At  ten  the  session  is 
opened ;  some  trifling  matter  of  presents  to  the  Assembly 
called  the  gifts  of  patriotism,  but  more  properly  the  sacri 
fices  to  vanity  ;  after  these  a  tedious  verbal  controversy  on 
the  reduction  of  yesterday's  minutes,  much  heat  and  noise 
and  impatience,  by  which  means  half  an  hour  is  employed 
in  what  ought  to  have  been  settled  in  half  a  minute.  The 
Marquis  de  Montesquieu  makes  his  report  ;  vast  respect 
for  the  Premier  Ministre  des  Finances,  and  then  sundry 
details  and  combinations,  which  show  that  the  committee 
understand  the  business  much  better  than  the  ministers. 
At  the  close,  however,  of  the  report,  there  is  a  feebleness 
which  they  are  perhaps  not  fully  aware  of,  or  perhaps  it 
was  unavoidable.  They  appeal  to  patriotism  for  aid,  but 
they  should,  in  money  matters,  apply  only  to  interest. 
They  should  never  acknowledge  such  want  of  resource  as 
to  render  the  aid  of  patriotism  necessary.  After  the  re 
port  is  read  the  Comte  de  Mirabeau  objects  to  the  consid 
eration  of  it,  and  insists  that  they  should  immediately  take 
up  M.  Necker's  proposition,  in  which  he  has  a  motion  to 
make.  He  is  called  to  the  tribune,  and  in  a  tone  of  fine 
irony  urges  the  adoption  of  the  plan  proposed  by  the 
Premier  Ministre  from  the  blind  confidence  which  the  As 
sembly  have  in  him,  and  from  that  unbounded  popularity 
which  he  enjoys.  'These,'  says  he,  '  in  that  dreadful  situ 
ation  which  he  has  exposed,  and  in  the  imminency  of 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  163 

danger  which  produces  debate,  urge,  nay,  command  us  to 
adopt  without  examination  what  the  minister  has  devised 
for  our  relief.  Let  us  agree  to  it  literally  {fextuellement\ 
and  if  it  succeeds  let  him,  as  he  ought,  enjoy  the  glory  of 
it ;  if  it  fails,  which  heaven  forefend,  we  will  then  exercise 
our  talents  in  trying  to  discover  if  yet  there  remains  any 
means  to  save  our  country.'  To  my  great  astonishment 
the  representatives  of  this  nation,  who  pique  themselves 
on  being  the  modern  Athenians,  are  ready  to  swallow  this 
proposition  by  acclamation.  The  President,  Clermont- 
Tonnerre,  who  perceives  its  tendency,  throws  into  a  differ 
ent  form  the  style  of  adoption.  Mirabeau  rises  and  very 
adroitly  parries  the  stroke  by  showing  that  this  form  is 
not  consistent  with  his  view,  which  the  Assembly  seemed 
willing  to  comply  with  ;  that  certainly  a  subject  of  such 
magnitude  should  not  be  carried  by  acclamation  without 
having  the  specific  form  before  them,  and  that  if  he  were 
to  propose  a  form  it  would  require  at  least  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  to  consider  it  and  prepare  it.  He  is  immediately 
(by  acclamation)  ordered  to  redact  his  proposition,  and 
while  he  is  about  it  the  Bishop  d'Autun  retires.  We  re 
mark  it.  My  friend  Madame  de  Flahaut  acknowledges 
that  they  are  in  league  together.  The  world  already  sus 
pects  that  union.  During  their  absence  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  noisy  debate  on  various  subjects,  if  indeed  such 
controversy  can  be  dignified  with  the  name  of  debate. 
At  length  Mirabeau  returns  and  brings  his  motion  forward 
in  consistence  with  his  original  idea.  The  Assembly  now 
perceive  the  trap,  and  during  the  tumult  Lally  de  Tollen- 
dal  proposes  that  the  motion  be  sent  to  the  Committee  of 
Finance  to  frame  as  an  arret'e.  Here  again  Mirabeau  man 
oeuvres  to  evade  that  coup,  and  while  the  house  are  hung 
up  in  their  judgment,  or  rather  entangled  from  want  of 
judgment,  d'Espresmenil  makes  a  motion  coincident  with 


1 64  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

that  of  Mirabeau  in  substance,  though  contrariant  in  form. 
There  is  not  sufficient  confidence  in  him,  and  therefore 
the  proposition  drops.  But  it  would  seem  from  hence 
that  he  is  in  the  faction  with  Mirabeau  and  Autun,  or  that 
the  same  principle  of  hatred  to  Necker  has  operated  a 
coincidence  of  conduct  on  the  present  occasion.  After 
this,  tumult  and  noise  continue  to  reign.  Mirabeau  at 
length,  in  another  speech,  openly  declares  his  disapproba 
tion  of  Necker's  plan.  It  is  moved  to  postpone  the  con 
sideration  of  the  subject  at  three  o'clock,  but  that  motion  is 
lost.  At  half-past  three  Madame  de  Flahaut  goes  away, 
and  at  four  I  retire,  extremely  fatigued,  in  the  belief  that 
Mirabeau's  motion  cannot  possibly  be  adopted,  and  that 
they  will  postpone  at  last  the  consideration.  Go  to  Ma 
dame  de  Tesse's.  She  is  at  the  Assemblee.  Madame  de  Tot 
is  so  kind  as  to  order  some  bread  and  wine  for  me  '  en  at 
tendant  le  diner.'  At  length  the  Corntesse  de  Tesse  arrives 
at  five.  Madame  de  Stae'l  is  with  her.  I  had  nearly  told 
this  last  my  opinion  of  Necker's  plan  before  I  knew  her. 
The  Assembly  are  aux  voix  on  the  adoption  ;  the  propo 
sition  not  essentially  different  from  that  of  Mirabeau,  and 
thus  they  are  the  dupes.  He  has  urged,  they  say,  a  deci 
sion  with  the  eloquence  of  Demosthenes.  While  we  are  at 
dinner  the  Comte  de  Tesse  and  some  members  arrive. 
The  adoption  is  carried  hollow,  at  which  Necker's  friends 
rejoice  and  Madame  de  Stae'l  is  in  raptures.  She  is 
pleased  with  the  conduct  of  Mirabeau,  which  she  says  was 
perhaps  the  only  way  of  bringing  such  a  wrong-headed 
body  to  act  rightly  ;  that  the  only  thing  they  could  do  was 
to  comply  with  her  father's  wish,  and  that  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  the  success  of  his  plans.  Bravo !  After  dinner, 
Madame  de  Tesse  having  told  her  that  I  am  un  homme 
(T  esprit,  she  singles  me  out  and  makes  a  talk;  asks  if  I 
have  not  written  a  book  on  the  American  Constitution. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  165 

'  Non,  Madame,  j'ai  fait  mon  devoir  en  assistant  a  la  forma 
tion  de  cette  Constitution.'  'Mais,  Monsieur,  votre  con 
versation  doit  etre  tres  interessante,  car  je  vous  entends 
citer  de  toute  part.'  '  Oh,  Madame,  je  ne  suis  pas  digne 
de  cet  eloge  ! '  How  I  lost  my  leg  ?  It  was,  unfortunately, 
not  in  the  military  service  of  my  country.  'Monsieur, 
vous  avez  1'air  tres  imposant,'  and  this  is  accompanied 
with  that  look  which,  without  being  what  Sir  John  Fal- 
staff  calls  the  'leer  of  invitation'  amounts  to  the  same 
thing.  I  answer  affirmatively,  and  would  have  left  the 
matter  there,  but  she  tells  me  that  M.  de  Chastellux  often 
spoke  of  me,  etc.  This  leads  us  on  ;  but  in  the  midst  of 
the  chat  arrive  letters,  one  of  which  is  from  her  lover  (De 
Narbonne),  now  with  his  regiment.  It  brings  her  to  a  lit 
tle  recollection,  which  a  little  time  will,  I  think,  again 
banish,  and,  in  all  human  probability,  a  few  interviews 
would  stimulate  her  curiosity  to  the  experiment  of  what 
can  be  effected  by  the  native  of  a  new  world  who  has  left 
one  of  his  legs  behind.  But,  malheureusement,  this  curios 
ity  cannot  now  be  gratified,  and  therefore  will,  I  presume, 
perish.  She  enters  into  a  conversation  with  Madame 
de  Tesse,  who  reproves  most  pointedly  the  approbation 
she  gave  to  Mirabeau,  and  the  ladies  become  at  length 
animated  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  politeness.  I  return 
to  Paris  much  fatigued  ;  the  day  has  been  prodigiously 
fine." 

"  To-day  [September  27th]  I  read  M.  Necker's  proposi 
tions  ;  they  are  wretched,  and  I  think  he  is  certainly 
ruined.  See  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  tells  me  the  plan  of 
the  Bishop  d'Autun  respecting  finance,  which  is  in  some 
respects  defective.  She  wishes  me  to  have  an  interview 
with  him  and  the  Marquis  de  Montesquiou,  and  will  en 
deavor  to  arrange  it.  Chatting  with  her  upon  various  sub 
jects  we  arrange  a  ministry  and  dispose  of  several  per- 


1 66  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VII. 

sons —  Mirabeau  to  go  to  Constantinople,  Lauzun  to 
London.  I  tell  her  that  this  last  is  wrong,  as  he  does  not 
possess  the  needful  talents  ;  but  she  says  he  must  be  sent 
away  because  without  talents  he  can  influence  in  some 
degree  the  proposed  chief,  and  a  good  secretary  will  sup 
ply  the  want  in  England.  We  converse  a  great  deal  about 
the  measures  to  be  pursued,  and  this  amiable  woman 
shows  a  precision  and  justness  of  thought  very  uncommon 
indeed  in  either  sex.  After  discussing  many  points, 
'  Enfin,'  she  says,  '  mon  ami,  vous  et  moi  nous  gouverne- 
rons  la  France.'  It  is  an  odd  combination,  but  the  king 
dom  is  actually  in  much  worse  hands.  This  evening  she 
is  to  confer  with  the  Queen's  physician,  and  set  him  to 
work  to  remove  some  of  Her  Majesty's  prejudices.  I  tell 
her  that  she  may  easily  command  the  Queen,  who  is  weak, 
proud,  but  not  ill-tempered,  and,  though  lustful,  yet  not 
much  attached  to  her  lovers,  therefore  a  superior  mind 
would  take  that  ascendency  which  the  feeble  always  sub 
mit  to,  though  not  always  without  reluctance."  To  this 
Madame  de  Flahaut  replies,  "  with  an  air  of  perfect  confi 
dence,"  that  she  would  take  care  to  keep  the  queen  sup 
plied  with  an  alternating  succession  of  gallants  and 
masses,  and  Morris  comments  :  "  It  is  impossible  not  to 
approve  of  such  a  regime,  and,  I  think,  with  a  due  propor 
tion  of  the  former  medicine  she  must  supplant  the  pre 
sent  physician." 

Morris  grew  rather  wearied  of  Lafayette's  procrastin 
ation  in  the  matter  of  the  memoir e  respecting  subsistence. 
No  attention  had  been  paid  to  it  ;  but  while  Morris  was 
waiting  for  his  answer,  several  other  men  in  authority 
applied  to  him  for  aid  in  supplying  flour;  ''indeed  M. 
Cretel,"  he  says,  "asks  me  if  I  would  not  furnish  some 
flour.  I  tell  him  that  if  Laville  will  appoint  some  person 
to  treat  with  me  on  that  subject  I  will  do  anything  in  my 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  l6/ 

power,  and  that  I  think  I  can  be  useful,  but  that  I  will 
not  throw  myself  at  their  heads.  I  then  tell  Lafayette 
that  a  vessel  had  been  detained  some  days  waiting  for  the 
answer  to  the  memoire ;  that  in  a  few  days  more  I  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  affair  ;  that  some  of  the 
persons  of  the  committee  have,  I  presume,  been  casting 
about  for  the  ways  and  means  to  make  money  out  of  the 
present  distress,  and  are  easy  as  to  consequences  because 
certain  they  shall  not  be  victims  ! " 


1 68  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  feast  at  Versailles.  Consternation  at  Paris.  Morris  urges  Lafayette 
to  attach  himself  to  the  king's  party.  Disturbance  in  Paris. 
Church  property  discussed.  Expedition  to  Versailles  proposed  in 
the  Palais  Royal  Gardens.  Excited  state  of  the  people.  Carriages 
stopped  in  the  streets.  Agonizing  night  at  Versailles.  The  royal 
family  brought  to  Paris.  The  heads  of  the  Body-guard  carried 
through  the  streets.  The  royal  family  installed  at  the  Tuileries.  De 
spatches  opened  by  the  mob.  Clermont  de  Tonnerre.  The  Comte 
de  Narbonne  and  Madame  de  Stae'l.  Dinner  at  Lafayette's.  Conver 
sation  with  Lafayette  on  the  situation  of  France.  Mirabeau.  Madame 
de  Chastellux's  salon.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans.  The  Bishop  of 
Autun  reads  a  motion  to  be  presented  to  the  Assembly.  A  ministry 
arranged. 

ON  Thursday,  the  first  of  October,  the  feast  was  pre 
pared  at  Versailles  for  the  Flanders  Regiment. 
This  superb  entertainment  had  been  conceived  in  an  un 
fortunate  moment  by  the  court  to  bring  the  loyal  regi 
ments  to  feast  together.  The  queen  with  all  the  ladies  of 
the  court  graced  the  scene  by  their  presence  in  the  boxes, 
and  increased  the  brilliant  effect.  Her  Majesty  descended 
from  her  box,  and  with  her  son  and  husband,  graceful  and 
tall,  with  a  truly  queen-like  dignity,  walked  through  the 
ranks  of  soldiers.  Excited  by  wine,  by  music,  and  by  the 
presence  of  their  queen,  they  drank  her  health,  cheered 
her,  dragged  the  tricolor  cockade  from  their  hats,  trampled 
it  under  foot,  and  donned  the  white  cockade.  Quickly 
the  news  of  the  sumptuous  banquet  at  Versailles  reached 
Paris.  It  spread  like  fire  among  the  famishing  crowds. 
Aristocrats  had  trampled  their  colors  under  foot.  They 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  169 

had  bread  and  to  spare  ;  they  feast  while  we  starve.  Let 
us  go  to  Versailles  and  demand  bread.  If  we  once  have 
the  king,  queen,  and  dauphin  in  the  midst  of  us  they  will 
be  obliged  to  feed  us.  We  will  bring  back  with  us  the 
Baker,  Bakeress,  and  the  Baker's  Boy  ! 

The  first  of  October  found  Morris  and  M.  de  Corney 
at  work  making  estimates  for  Lafayette  for  the  purchase 
of  provisions  at  reasonable  rates  to  be  served  out  to  the 
poor  of  Paris.  Fresh  pork  which  was  selling  at  sixteen 
sous  per  pound,  they  offered  to  transport  to  Paris  and  sell 
at  half  the  price.  Next  day  :  "  I  go  to-day  to  Lafayette's 
and  ask  a  dinner,"  he  says.  "  I  find  that  even  among  his 
military  family,  there  are  some  who  at  least  wish  well  to 
the  noblesse.  After  dinner  I  take  him  aside  and  tell  him 
some  of  my  sentiments  on  his  own  situation  ;  that  he 
must  immediately  discipline  his  troops  and  make  himself 
obeyed  ;  that  his  nation  is  used  to  be  governed  and  must 
be  governed.  That  if  he  expects  to  lead  them  by  their 
affection  he  will  be  the  dupe.  So  far  he  accords  ;  but  on 
the  subject  of  discipline  his  countenance  shows  the  self- 
accuser,  for  he  has  given  the  command  to  officers  who 
know  nothing  of  their  business.  I  mention  to  him  the  sub 
ject  of  subsistence.  He  wishes  me  to  appear  before  the 
new  committee  on  Monday,  and  that  Mr.  Short  should  also 
be  there,  so  as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  diplomatic 
affair.  This  is  not  overwise,  but  I  desire  him  to  write  to 
me  what  he  wishes,  and  to  write  also  to  Short.  We  will 
see  how  feebleness  will  manage  in  arduous  circumstances. 
I  tell  him  the  serious  truth,  that  if  the  people  of  this  me 
tropolis  want  they  will  send  their  leaders  to  the  devil  at 
once,  and  ask  again  their  bread  and  their  chains  ;  that 
Paris  is,  in  fact,  the  dupe  of  this  business  at  any  rate,  be 
cause  her  splendor  is  owing  entirely  to  despotism,  and 
must  be  diminished  by  the  adoption  of  a  better  govern- 


I/O  DIARY  AND    LETTERS   OF  [[CHAP.  VIII. 

ment.  I  then  urge  him,  in  the  great  division  of  parties, 
to  attach  himself  to  that  of  the  king,  being  the  only  one 
which  can  predominate  without  danger  to  the  people. 
He  is  startled  at  this  assertion.  I  proceed  to  demonstrate 
it,  but  Mazzie  comes  in  and  with  his  usual  self-possession 
makes  a  third  person  in  the  conversation.  Therefore  I 
quit  it.  Chat  a  little  with  Madame  de  Lafayette,  who 
receives  me  much  better  than  she  used  to  do.  I  know 
not  why,  but  perhaps  I  have  contracted  more  of  that 
tournure  to  which  she  has  been  habituated.  I  go  to  the 
club.  De  Noailles  tells  us  that  Necker's  proposition  as 
modified  will  take.  Kersau  says  that  letters  from  the 
provinces  assure  the  same  thing.  I  am,  however,  still 
incredulous.  Laborde  gives  us  the  fourth  of  his  income 
(400,000  f.),  and  the  Due  d'Orleans  600,000.  I  ask  Kersau 
who  is  the  fittest  man  in  this  kingdom  for  military  Minis 
ter  of  the  Marine.  He  tells  me  it  is  Marignan,  his  brother- 
in-law,  or  himself.  Mirabeau's  address  to  the  nation  on 
the  subject  of  the  new  imposition  is  said  to  be  superb. 
Those  who  contribute  their  fourth  are  to  receive  an  in 
terest  of  four  per  cent.,  and  the  contribution  is  to  be  paid 
in  three  years.  Those  who  have  less  than  400  per  annum 
are  not  to  pay  but  at  their  pleasure." 

"  Much  disturbance  in  Paris,"  is  chronicled  by  the  diary, 
October  4th.  "  The  foolish  story  of  the  cockades  at  Ver 
sailles  and  the  serious  suffering  for  the  want  of  bread  have 
collected  from  eight  to  ten  thousand  wretches,  who  go  to 
the  Hotel  de  Ville.  How  it  will  end  I  know  not,  but  this 
is  certain,  that  unless  they  contrive  to  obtain  food  for  the 
people  they  will  be  constantly  embroiled.  Bailly,  the 
mayor,  is,  they  say,  inept  and  wishes  to  resign.  They 
talk  of  Mirabeau  as  a  successor.  Thus  every  country  has 
its  John  Wilkes.  It  is  no  common  combination,  that  of  a 
heart  to  devise,  a  head  to  plan,  and  a  hand  to  execute. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  I? I 

Dine  with  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  the  Bishop  d'Autun 
at  the  Louvre.  She  is  taken  ill  at  dinner.  We  converse 
about  the  public  affairs,  and  she  tells  us  that  if  he  is  min 
ister  we  must  make  a  million  for  her.  He  has  many  just 
ideas  on  the  subject  of  finance,  but  a  defect  which  he  is 
not  aware  of.  To  correct  it  I  tell  him  that  he  must  get 
men  about  him  who  understand  work  and  who  love  work. 
Mention  De  Corney  as  the  kind  of  man  who  would  suit 
him,  and  observe  that  there  are  very  few  of  the  kind  in 
this  country,  to  which  he  heartily  agrees,  but  is  not  willing 
to  acknowledge  that  he  does  not  love  work  himself.  He 
says  the  present  ministry  will  last  forever  ;  that  is,  longer 
than  he  wishes  ;  but  Necker's  health  and  the  difficulties  he 
is  already  plunged  in  seem  to  me  to  augur  differently. 
We  cannot  even  sketch  the  outlines  of  a  future  plan  dis 
tinctly,  but  in  general  we  agree  as  to  what  ought  to  be 
done.  On  the  subject  of  the  church  property,  I  urge  that 
it  should  be  obtained  by  consent  of  the  Clergy,  and  only 
mortgaged  at  first,  but  sold  afterwards  by  degrees  so  as  to 
obtain  the  full  value.  State  this  as  security  for  the  prin 
cipal,  and  the  dimes  [tithes]  as  security  for  the  interest,  of  a 
loan  which  is  to  be  subscribed  instantly  by  means  of  for 
eign  aid  ;  and  then,  instead  of  insisting  on  the  right  to 
repay  to  the  owners  of  the  rentes  viaglres  their  capital  ad 
vanced  (which  is  his  idea),  to  invite  them  to  a  change,  by 
giving  the  principal  which  the  rente  is  worth,  calculated 
at  an  interest  of  five  per  cent — that  principal  reimbursa 
ble,  and  bearing  an  interest  of  six  per  cent.;  then  begin 
to  pay  the  principal  with  money  obtained  at  four  per  cent., 
and  force  all  the  public  creditors  who  will  not  take  four 
per  cent,  to  accept  their  capital.  This  scheme  is  not  only 
practicable  but  easy.  Urge  the  propriety  of  obliging  the 
Caisse  d'Escompte  to  settle  their  accounts  before  any  fur 
ther  extension  is  given  their  establishment,  and  that  in 


1/2  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

future  the  management  should  be  part  by  commissioners, 
to  prevent  the  present  mischief  ;  which  is,  that  the  minis 
ters  who  are  in  the  administration  make  use  of  it  merely 
as  the  means  to  support  circulation,  by  which  they  raise  a 
fictitious  capital  and  gamble  at  the  risk  of  the  community. 
This  idea  he  approves  of,  but  does  riot  relish  my  further 
idea  of  having  subordinate  banks  in  the  great  cities.  I 
did  not  sufficiently  explain  it,  but  I  have  a  general  idea 
which  might,  I  think,  be  executed  with  great  advantage  in 
this  country.  If  opportunity  offers  for  execution  I  will 
detail  it,  but  for  the  present  I  must  think  of  other  affairs." 
In  the  Palais  Royal  this  Sunday  (October  4th),  possibly 
for  the  first,  certainly  not  for  the  last  time,  a  woman  used 
her  voice  to  extinction  proposing  the  expedition  to  Ver 
sailles  and  denouncing  the  "  plaster-of- Paris  bread,  sacri 
legious  opera  dinners,  green  uniforms,  and  black  cock 
ades."  Danton  "  roared  "  his  denunciations,  and  Marat, 
equally  condemnatory,  made  "as  much  noise  as  the  four 
trumpets  on  the  Day  of  Judgment."  Acts  of  violence  and 
cries  of  "  A  bas !  "  were  the  result  of  seeing  the  black  cock 
ades,  which  men  ruthlessly  dragged  off  and  crushed  under 
foot.  So  passed  Sunday.  Monday  morning,  "  the  town 
is  in  alarm,"  Morris  says.  "  I  go  towards  Chaillot  to  see 
what  is  doing,  but  am  stopped  at  the  Pont  Royal.  Go 
into  the  Tuileries.  A  host  of  women  are  gone  towards 
Versailles  with  some  cannon.  A  strange  manoeuvre ! 
Walk  up  to  Mr.  Short's  ;  he  is  just  going  to  dine.  We  re 
turn  together  to  the  Place  Louis  Quinze.  This  tumult  is  the 
continuation  of  last  night ;  a  wild,  mad  enterprise.  Go  to 
the  arsenal.  Admitted  with  difficulty.  They  are  at  din 
ner.  Madame  Lavoisier  is  detained  in  town,  as  all  car 
riages  were  stopped  and  the  ladies  obliged  to  join  the 
female  mob.  While  we  si:  at  table,  we  learn  that  the  mi 
litia  and  the  Regiment  National  are  marching  towards 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  1/3 

Versailles.  Return  home  and  dress.  At  eight  o'clock  go 
to  the  Louvre  to  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  sup  with 
Madame  Capellis.  Capellis  is  with  her.  He  says  the 
Regiment  de  Flandre,  the  Milice  de  Versailles,  and  the 
Garde  du  Corps  are  determined  to  give  the  Parisians  a 
warm  reception.  Lafayette  has  marched  by  compulsion, 
guarded  by  his  own  troops,  who  suspect  and  threaten  him. 
Dreadful  situation  !  Obliged  to  do  what  he  abhors,  or  suf 
fer  an  ignominious  death,  with  the  certainty  that  the  sac 
rifice  of  his  life  will  not  prevent  the  mischief.  I  go  to 
supper.  Much  discourse  about  what  is  to  happen  at  Ver 
sailles,  and  we  agree  that  our  Parisians  will  be  beaten  and 
we  consider  it  as  fortunate  that  they  are  gone.  I  venture 
the  assurance  that  from  this  day  forward  the  French  army 
will  return  to  its  sovereign,  presuming,  always,  that  the 
Regiment  de  Flandre  will,  as  it  is  said,  do  its  duty  this 
night.  A  gentleman  here  tells  us  an  anecdote  which 
shows  how  well  this  nation  is  adapted  to  the  enjoyment  of 
freedom.  He  walked  near  a  knot  of  people  collected  to 
gether,  where  an  orator  was  haranguing.  The  substance 
of  his  oration  was  :  '  Messieurs,  nous  manquons  du  pain, 
et  voici  la  raison.  II  n'y  a  que  trois  jours  que  le  Roi  a 
eu  ce  veto  suspensif,  et  deja  les  aristocrats  ont  achete  des 
suspensions  et  envoye  les  grains  hors  du  Royaume.'  To 
this  sensible  and  profound  discourse  his  audience  gave  a 
hearty  assent.  *  Ma  foi,  il  a  raison.  Ce  n'est  que  ca.'  Oh 
rare  !  These  are  the  modern  Athenians — alone  learned, 
alone  wise,  alone  polite,  and  the  rest  of  mankind  barba 
rians  !  I  learn  this  evening  that  several  of  the  provinces 
are  become  discontented  at  the  acts  of  the  Assembles 
Nationale,  but  principally  with  the  city  of  Paris.  At 
Madame  de  Flahaut's  the  company  at  supper  was  reduced 
almost  to  a  tete-a-tete.  The  guests  all  decline,  from  the 
public  confusion." 


1/4  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

At  Versailles  by  eleven  in  the  morning  the  Comte  de 
St.  Priest  knew  of  the  approach  of  the  mob,  with  its  ad 
vanced  guard  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  women — women 
in  the  guise  of  Amazons  :  the  Queen  of  the  Halles,  dressed 
in  scarlet,  with  eyes  flashing  and  hair  flying  ;  and  sad 
women,  with  starving  babies  in  their  arms.  It  was  a  mob 
with  many  unexpressed  intentions,  but  with  a  fixed,  unal 
terable  resolve  to  find  bread.  The  king,  strangely  infat 
uated,  hunted  that  eventful  day,  and  must  be  reminded  of 
his  duty.  And  even  in  the  face  of  approaching  calamity 
he  found  time  to  make  an  entry  in  his  journal  and  to  note 
the  forty-one  birds  killed,  and  to  comment  on  the  interrup 
tion  occasioned  "par  les  evenements."  The  queen,  while 
taking  a  walk — the  last  she  ever  took — in  the  pretty  gar 
dens  of  Trianon,  was  called  to  a  realization  of  "  les  evene 
ments,"  to  which  she  was  more  keenly  alive  than  the  king. 

In  the  Assembly  they  squabbled  over  the  king's  response 
relative  to  the  Rights  of  Man,  quite  unmindful  or  ignorant 
of  the  fact  that  men  had  come  to  settle  the  debated  ques 
tion  in  their  own  way.  Through  the  wild  gale  and  the 
deluges  of  rain,  the  darkness  adding  to  the  general  misery, 
the  mob  came.  The  tocsin  sounded,  and  mingled  its 
voice  with  that  of  the  tired,  wet,  hungry  mob  in  the 
streets.  In  the  chateau,  the  Comte  de  Luxembourg  begged 
the  king  for  orders.  "What  orders?"  asked  Louis  XVI. 
"Against  women  ?  You  mock  me." 

Hasty  preparations  were  making  to  take  the  royal  fam 
ily  to  Rambouillet,  but  the  king  refused  to  go,  and  the 
queen  refused  to  leave  him.  Fear  and  apprehension  grew 
insupportable  as  the  night  dragged  slowly  on.  The  queen 
heeded  nothing ;  not  even  the  cries  of  the  Dauphin, 
"  Mamma,  I  am  hungry,"  elicited  any  response.  Sudden 
ly,  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  the  agony  was  in 
creased,  if  possible,  by  blood-curdling  proposals  made  con- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  1/5 

cerning  the  queen  among  the  mob.  Then  the  chateau 
suddenly  filled  with  armed  men,  who  found  access  through 
the  door  of  the  Cour  de  1'Opera,  which  in  the  confusion 
had  been  left  open.  They  followed  the  passages  which 
led  to  the  queen's  chamber,  where  she,  exhausted  by  the 
confusion  of  the  day,  slept.  Brave  Miomandre  de  Sainte 
Marie  met  the  mob  on  the  great  staircase,  and  pleaded 
with  them  to  desist  from  their  mad  purpose,  but  unavail- 
ingly  ;  on  they  went.  Then  he  shouted  to  the  guards,  "  Save 
your  queen  !  "  Rudely  awakened,  she  rushed,  scantily  clad, 
to  the  king's  chamber  by  a  secret  passage,  and  for  a  mo 
ment  she  found  a  refuge  ;  but  the  crowd  demanded  that 
she  should  show  herself,  and  with  her  children  she  ap 
peared  on  the  balcony.  "  No  children,"  came  the  cry; 
and  she  stood  alone  before  them,  heroic  and  queen-like. 
The  king  must  go  to  Paris,  the  crowd  decreed  ;  and  he 
promised  to  go  "on  condition,"  he  said,  "that  I  shall  not 
be  separated  from  my  wife  and  family."  At  one  o'clock 
the  melancholy  procession  set  out — a  hundred  of  the 
deputies  and  the  bulk  of  the  Parisian  army,  the  royal 
family,  and  in  the  midst  the  heads  of  the  two  body-guards 
murdered  during  the  night,  carried  on  poles.  The  day 
was  one  of  rare  beauty.  It  was  on  such  a  day  and  in 
such  a  manner  that  Versailles  ceased  to  be  the  home  of 
kings. 

"Tuesday  morning,  October  6th,  Paris  is  all  in  tumult," 
Morris  says.  "  Two  heads  of  the  gardes  du  corps  are 
brought  to  town,  and  the  royal  family,  who  are  in  posses 
sion  of  the  Regiment  National,  late  Gardes  Fra^ais, 
are  to  come  this  afternoon.  I  go  to  see  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut.  She  \vants  to  visit  at  the  Place  Royal.  We  take 
her  fille  de  chambre  along  (to  save  appearances).  The 
gentleman,  M.  de  St.  Priest,  is  not  at  home,  but  is  returned 
from  Versailles.  On  our  return  we  find  that  among  other 


1/6  DIARY    AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

visitors  the  Bishop  has  been  there.  Madame  is  alarmed  ; 
sends  after  him.  She  wants  to  know  the  news  from  Versail 
les.  Presently  after,  asks  if  she  shall  send  for  Capellis  to 
know  the  news  of  Paris.  I  agree.  While  at  supper  Capellis 
comes  in.  The  Bishop  is  not  to  be  found.  Capellis  gives 
a  recital  of  what  has  passed.  Many  circumstances  of  in 
sult  to  the  royal  personages.  The  Queen  obliged  to  fly 
from  her  bed  in  her  shift  and  petticoat,  with  her  stockings 
in  her  hand,  to  the  King's  chamber  for  protection,  being 
pursued  by  the  poissardes.  At  the  Hotel  de  Ville  M. 
Bailly,  in  reading  the  King's  speech,  omitted  in  some  part 
the  words  '  avec  confiance.'  The  Queen  corrected  him, 
which  produced  a  shout  of,  'Vive  la  Reine!'  They  are  to 
lodge  in  the  chambers  fitted  up  in  the  Ttiileries  (as  slander 
says)  for  her  amours.  These  will  now  present  her  but  bit 
ter  remembrances.  Oh  virtue  !  thou  art  valuable,  even  in 
this  world.  What  an  unfortunate  prince  !  the  victim  of 
his  weakness,  and  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  not  to  be 
relied  on  even  for  pity.  What  a  dreadful  lesson  it  is  for 
man  that  an  absolute  prince  cannot  with  safety  be  indul 
gent.  The  troubles  of  this  country  are  begun,  but  as  to 
the  end,  it  is  not  easy  to  foresee  it.  The  National  Assem 
bly  is  to  come  to  Paris,  and  it  is  supposed  that  the  inhabi 
tants  of  the  Louvre  will  be  deniches.  Madame  de  Flahaut 
declares  she  willgo  off  on  Monday.  I  am  very  heartily  tired 
of  myself  and  everything  about  me,  and  return  home,  with 
the  one  consolation  that,  being  very  sleepy,  I  shall  in  that 
sweet  oblivion  lose  a  thousand  disagreeable  thoughts. 
This  day  has  been  rainy  and  windy,  and  I  believe  (at  sea)  a 
high  gale  if  not  a  storm.  Man  turbulent,  like  the  elements, 
disorders  the  moral  world,  but  it  is  action  which  supports 
life." 

"The  King  forbade  all  resistance,  Madame  de  Flahaut 
hears  [October  yth]  from  Versailles,  and  the  Queen,  on  re- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  1/7 

tiring  to  her  own  chamber,  told  her  attendants  that,  as  the 
King  was  determined  to  go  to  Paris,  she  must  accompany 
him,  but  she  should  never  leave  it.  Poor  lady,  this  is  a 
sad  presage  of  what  is  too  likely.  The  King  ate  a  very 
hearty  supper  last  night.  Who  will  say  that  he  wants 
fortitude?  At  the  club  there  is  a  good  deal  of  random 
conversation  about  public  affairs.  Most  men  begin  to  per 
ceive  that  things  are  not  in  the  best  train.  There  are 
still,  however,  a  number  of  the  enrages  who  are  well  pleased. 
If  my  calculations  are  not  very  erroneous,  the  Assemblee 
Nationale  will  soon  feel  the  effects  of  their  new  position. 
There  can  be  no  question  of  the  freedom  of  debate  in  a 
place  so  remarkable  for  order  and  decency  as  the  city  of 
Paris.  I  told  O'Connel  that  they  must  give  discharges  to 
all  the  soldiers  who  asked  them,  if  they  want  to  have  an 
obedient  army,  and  recruit  next  winter  when  they  are  hun 
gry  and  cold,  because  misery  will  make  them  obedient.  I 
think  he  will  circulate  this  idea  as  his  own,  because  he  has 
a  good  dose  of  what  is  called  by  different  names,  but  in  a 
soldier  is  the  love  of  glory.  A  curious  incident  has  hap 
pened  this  day.  The  district  of  St.  Roch  have  opened  the 
despatches  to  the  ministers  and  read  them  to  the  black 
guards,  to  see  if  they  contained  anything  against  the  na 
tion." 

M.  Le  Coulteux,  on  the  8th  of  October,  again  suggested 
that  Morris  should  have  an  interview  with  M.  Necker, 
and  propose  to  him  the  purchase  of  flour  and  wheat.  "  I 
receive  the  proposition  very  coldly,"  says  the  former,  "and 
tell  him  that  I  am  going  to  England,  being  heartily  out  of 
humor  with  everything  in  France.  Later  I  proceed  to  M. 
de  Lafayette's.  He  is  surrounded.  In  conference  with 
Clermont  de  Tonnerre,  Madame  de  Lafayette,  M.  de  Stael, 
and  M.  de  Semien  his  friend,  are  en  comit^  in  the  salon. 
This  is  all  petit.  I  take  a  few  minutes  to  tell  Lafayette 

12 


1/8  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

what  appears  necessary  as  to  a  change  of  administration. 
He  has  spoken  to  Mirabeau  already.  I  regret  it ;  he 
thinks  of  taking  one  minister  from  each  party.  I  tell  him 
that  he  must  have  men  of  talents  and  firmness,  and  for  the 
rest  it  is  no  matter.  Am  to  dine  with  him  to-morrow  and 
converse  on  this  matter.  Visit  Madame  de  Flahaut.  M. 
Aubert  is  there,  and  before  he  goes  Mr.  O'Connel  arrives. 
He  stays  till  nine  o'clock.  I  then  tell  her  that  I  want  to  see 
her  Bishop,  and  that  he  pledge  himself  to  support  Lafay 
ette  ;  wait  for  his  arrival,  but  as  he  does  not  come  in,  and 
M.  St.  Priest  and  his  daughter  arrive,  I  go  away.  At  M. 
Le  Coulteux's  Cantaleu  tells  me  of  what  has  passed  with 
Necker.  They  see  their  way  to  a  supply  till  March  next, 
but  then  they  must  have  aid.  In  conversing  with  him 
on  the  means,  he  proposed  an  interview  with  me,  and 
mentioned  that  I  wished  to  see  him  on  the  subject  of  the 
debt  from  America.  Necker  immediately  observed  that 
perhaps  I  would  take  the  debt  in  payment  of  supplies. 
Thus  we  stand.  I  am  to  see  him  between  five  and  six  on 
Saturday  afternoon.  Lafayette  is  to  desire  him  to  speak 
to  me  on  the  subject  this  evening.  Nous  verrons.  At  eleven 
I  receive  a  note  from  Madame  de  Flahaut.  The  Bishop 
is  just  arrived  and  wishes  to  see  me.  I  go  to  the  Louvre. 
Capellis  is  there.  Madame  takes  the  Bishop  and  me  out, 
which  surprises  Capellis  not  a  little.  We  converse  pretty 
fully  on  the  arrangement  of  a  ministry.  The  getting-  rid 
of  Necker  is  a  sine  qud  non  with  the  Bishop,  who  wants  his 
place.  Indeed,  I  am  of  the  same  opinion.  He  gives  me 
every  assurance  I  can  wish  respecting  Lafayette.  After 
arranging  the  new  ministry,  we  come  to  finance:  the 
means  of  restoring  credit,  etc.  Consider  his  plan  respect 
ing  the  property  of  the  church.  He  is  bigoted  to  it ;  and 
the  thing  is  well,  but  the  mode  not  so  well.  He  is  attached 
to  this  as  an  author,  which  is  not  a  good  symptom  for  a 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS. 

man  of  business.  However,  our  friend  insists  with  him 
so  earnestly  that  she  makes  him  give  up  one  point.  She 
has  infinite  good  sense.  After  the  Bishop  d'Autun  leaves, 
Count  Louis  de  Narbonne,  Madame  de  StaeTs  lover, 
comes  in  ;  a  lively  scene  of  raillery  between  them,  upon 
an  affair  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun's  with  Madame  de  Stael. 
It  seems  that  he  and  the  Bishop  are  intimate  friends.  Fie 
at  bottom  is  much  hurt  at  the  conduct  of  his  friend,  and 
very  gayly  proposes  to  her  a  pleasant  vengeance.  Asks 
for  dinner.  She  desires  me  to  stay  longer,  but  my  hour  is 
come,  and  therefore  we  must  postpone  reflections  till  this 
afternoon.  Leave  her  and  go  to  see  De  Corney.  He 
shows  me  his  letter  to  the  King  on  the  subject  of  subsist 
ence.  I  approve  of  it,  for  he  has  delivered  it  this  morn 
ing.  His  wife,  I  find,  is  acquainted  with  the  whole  affair. 
This  is  the  woman's  country.  Go  to  Lafayette's.  A  large 
company  to  dine.  After  dinner  go  into  his  cabinet  and 
talk  to  him  about  a  new  ministry  of  more  ability  than  the 
present.  Mention  the  Bishop  of  Autun  for  the  Finances. 
He  says  he  is  a  bad  man  and  false.  I  controvert  the 
proposition,  upon  the  ground  already  given  to  me.  I  tell 
him  that  with  the  Bishop  he  gets  Mirabeau.  He  is  sur 
prised  at  this,  and  assures  me  they  are  enemies.  I  tell  him 
that  he  is  mistaken,  and  as  my  information  is  the  best,  he 
is  thrown  into  the  style  of  a  man  greatly  deceived.  I  tell 
him  the  idea  of  the  Bishop,  that  the  King  should  immedi- 
atelv  have  given  him  (Lafayette)  a  blue  riband.  This 
goes  farther  towards  convincing  him  that  he  is  an  honest 
man  than  many  good  actions.  Montesquieu  as  Minister 
at  War  might  do.  He  does  not  much  like  him,  but  he  is 
the  friend  of  M.  de  Montmorin.  Propose  Touret  for  Garde 
des  Sceaux.  He  owns  that  he  has  talent,  but  questions  as 
to  his  force  of  mind.  I  ask  him  what  he  intends  to  do 
with  Clermont-Tonnerre.  He  says  he  is  not  a  man  of 


1 80  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

great  abilities.  I  add  that  he  is  a  man  of  duplicity  (faux). 
He  agrees  that  he  is ;  therefore  no  difficulty  with  respect 
to  him.  I  tell  him  that  the  coalition  I  propose  will  drive 
Necker  away  by  the  very  populace  which  now  support 
him.  Necker  is  already  frightened,  and  sick  of  the  busi 
ness  he  is  engaged  in.  The  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault  comes 
in.  He  tells  us  that  the  Assembly  are  to  come  to  Paris, 
and  that  the  motion  of  the  Bishop  respecting  the  prop 
erty  of  the  church  is  postponed  till  to-morrow,  when  he 
expects  to  have  the  clergy  with  him.  I  am  to  see  Lafay 
ette  again  on  Sunday  morning  at  nine.  I  cannot  dine 
with  him  to-morrow  ;  besides,  it  is  nonsense  to  meet  at 
dinner  in  a  crowd.  Ternant  and  I  have  a  little  conversa 
tion.  He  tells  me  he  is  sure  of  his  regiment,  and  can 
bring  with  him  six  hundred  chasseurs  from  the  skirts  of 
the  Bois  de  Boulogne.  I  ask  him  if  I  shall  name  him  as 
one  who  can  be  relied  on  to  a  person  of  my  acquaintance. 
He  desires  that  his  name  may  not  be  used,  unless  in  the 
houses  where  he  visits ;  but  that  I  may  say  I  know  an 
officer  who  can  be  relied  on,  etc.,  without  naming  him.  Go 
to  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  Madame  de  Corney  is  with  her. 
After  she  is  gone  she  asks  the  result  of  our  conversation 
at  Lafayette's.  I  give  the  amount  in  few  words.  She 
tells  me  that  Louis  de  Narbonne,  who,  with  infinite  wit,  is 
'un  assez  mauvais  sujet,'  will  be  the  enemy  of  the  Bishop 
on  account  of  the  amour.  I  am  tired  and  vexed  ;  there 
fore  come  home,  take  tea,  and  go  early  to  bed.  This  has 
been  a  rainy,  disagreeable  day." 

"  I  am  to  meet  the  Bishop  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's  this 
evening,"  says  the  entry  for  October  loth.  "  I  see  M.  Le 
Coulteux  this  morning,  and  confer  about  the  debt  to 
France.  In  speaking  about  the  mode  in  which  we  are 
to  treat  with  M.  Necker,  I  mention  my  determination  to 
act  very  openly,  etc.  Laurent  le  Coulteux  wants  to  higgle, 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  l8l 

and  as  I  treat  this  mode  of  dealing  with  contempt,  we 
have  a  pretty  smart  conversation  ;  in  the  course  of  it  he 
discovers  how  much  he  is  hurt  by  my  indifference.  I  pur 
sue,  however,  my  straightforward  line,  and  Cantaleu  agrees 
with  me  in  sentiment.  We  have  soon  some  more  company, 
and  go  to  dinner.  His  attentions  and  those  of  Madame 
are  marked.  At  five  call  on  Cantaleu,  and  we  visit  M. 
Necker.  Madame  asks  us  to  dine  next  Tuesday.  We  go 
to  the  cabinet  of  monsieur,  and  after  some  chat  proceed 
to  the  consideration  of  the  debt  of  the  United  States  to 
France.  I  tell  him  the  whole  truth  with  respect  to  it,  and 
assure  him  that  I  will  not  engage  in  a  purchase  with 
out  such  a  view  to  profit  as  will  save  me  from  all  risk, 
and  that  he  must  make  a  sacrifice.  Cantaleu  reads  the 
note  I  gave  to  the  Marechal  de  Castries,  and  we  finally 
come  to  consider  between  sixteen  and  twenty  millions. 
He  proposes  the  latter  sum,  and  on  Tuesday  we  are  to 
talk  farther  about  it.  Visit  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who 
leaves  me  reading  "  La  Pucelle  "  and  goes  out  in  my 
carriage.  She  returns  after  a  short  visit.  Stay  till  near 
eleven,  but  the  Bishop  does  not  appear,  so  I  quit  the 
field." 

"I  go  this  morning  [October  nth]  to  keep  my  appoint 
ment  with  Lafayette.  He  keeps  me  waiting  a  very  long 
time.  Find  that  he  wishes  to  avoid  coming  to  any  points  as 
to  a  new  administration,  therefore  carelessly  ask  him  if  he 
has  thought  on  the  subject  of  our  last  conversation.  This 
letids  us  on.  I  state  to  him  the  present  situation  of  France, 
and  the  necessity  of  combining  men  of  talents  who  have 
principles  favorable  to  liberty  ;  that  without  talents  the 
opportunity  of  regaining  executive  authority  will  be  lost, 
and  that  without  the  proper  principles  the  authority  when 
recovered  will  be  abused  ;  that  he  cannot  possibly  act 
both  as  minister  and  soldier — still  less  as  minister  of 


1 82  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

every  department  ;  that  he  must  have  coadjutors  in  whom 
he  can  confide  ;  that  as  to  the  objections  he  has  made  on 
the  score  of  morals  in  some,  he  must  consider  that  men  do 
not  go  into  administration  as  the  direct  road  to  Heaven  ; 
that  they  are  prompted  by  ambition  or  avarice,  and  there 
fore  that  the  only  way  to  secure  the  most  virtuous  is  by 
making  it  their  interest  to  act  rightly.  He  tells  me  that 
he  means  to  introduce  Malesherbes  as  Garde  des  Sceaux, 
and  to  the  objection  that  he  will  not  be  induced  to  accept, 
the  reply  is,  that  he  will  accept  from  M.  de  Lafayette.  I 
have  a  stronger  objection,  which  I  do  not  choose  to  make  ; 
viz.,  that  he  is  not  sufficiently  a  man  of  business,  although 
certainly  well  informed  and  possessed  of  a  great  deal  of 
understanding.  He  mentions  Rochefoucault  as  Minister 
of  Paris,  and  to  the  objection  that  he  has  not  the  needful 
talents,  he  answers  that  he  will  give  him  a  premier  commis 
who  has.  The  Minister  of  War  is  in  the  same  situation, 
but  they  cannot  carry  the  commis  into  the  council  to  delib 
erate  and  judge.  He  will  himself  be  in  council,  and  will 
take  care  to  manage  everything  there.  Unluckily  he  does 
not  reflect  that  he  himself  wants  both  talents  and  informa 
tion.  He  again  mentions  that  he  will  have  Mirabeau,  to 
which  I  reply  that  a  man  so  profligate  will  disgrace  any 
administration,  and  that  one  who  has  so  little  principle 
ought  not  to  be  trusted.  I  do  not,  as  I  might,  retort  on 
the  subject  of  morality.  I  know  pretty  well  the  man  I  am 
speaking  to,  and  therefore  can  estimate  his  reasons.  He 
is  very  desirous  to  get  rid  of  me,  and  I  take  my  leave.  I 
am  vexed  to  find  that  by  littleness  the  little  are  to  be 
placed  where  greatness  alone  can  fill  the  seat.  He  keeps 
Necker,  whose  talents  he  despises,  because  Necker  is  hon 
est  and  he  can  trust  him,  as  if  it  were  possible  to  trust  a 
timid  man  in  arduous  circumstances.  Visit  Madame  de 
Flahaut.  She  is  with  her  physician,  but  Deceives  me  a  lit- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  183 

tie  after  one,  and  begs  me  to  dine  tete-a-tete  with  her. 
The  Queen  is  coming  round.  This  morning  the  King's 
dentist  fell  dead  at  his  feet.  The  poor  King  exclaimed 
that  he  was  devoted  to  experience  every  kind  of  misfort 
une.  He  had,  however,  presence  of  mind  enough  to  de 
sire  Vicq  d'Azyr,  the  physician,  to  go  and  break  the  matter 
gently  to  the  Queen,  who  was  not  well  and  might  suffer 
from  such  a  shock.  She  is  highly  pleased  with  the  Bish 
op's  motion.  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux.  She  is  in 
bed  and,  I  think,  very  ill  ;  a  dreadful  cough,  which  must 
terminate  fatally  if  not  soon  relieved.  The  Duchess 
comes  in,  and  makes  some  kind  reproaches  for  not  visiting 
at  Raincy.  Return  home,  write  and  dress,  and  then  go 
to  club.  Stay  but  a  few  minutes.  Go  to  Madame  de 
Flahaut's.  She  is  abroad  ;  I  wait  her  return,  which  is  not 
until  after  three.  She  tells  me  that  she  has  repeated  to 
the  Bishop  my  conversation  with  Lafayette,  of  which,  by 
the  bye,  I  told  only  such  parts  as  could  by  no  means  con 
vey  his  intentions,  although  they  were  not  communicated 
to  me  in  express  confidence.  Mirabeau  is  to  have  an  in 
terview  this  evening  with  the  King  (private,  and  unknown 
to  anybody  but  ourselves). 

"  I  leave  her  and  visit  at  M.  de  Montmorin's.  M.  de  la 
Luzerne  is  there.  Both  very  glad  to  see  me,  and  as  they 
have  been  at  a  conversation  duly  serious,  I  animate  it  with 
a  gayety  which  produces  very  good  effect.  It  is  a  pity  that 
these  people  have  not  the  needful  abilities  ;  however,  I 
have  labored  to  keep  Montmorin  in  place,  and  I  think  it 
possible  still  to  succeed.  He  is  very  honest,  and  his  situa 
tion  with  Florida  Blanca  *  renders  him  a  desirable  mem- 


*  Count  Florida  Blanca,  a  Spanish  statesman,  and  prime  minister  in  1777. 
He  made  great  efforts  to  recover  Gibraltar,  in  which  attempt,  however,  his 
plans  were  frustrated — but  the  Spanish  captured  Florida,  Minorca,  the 
Bahamas,  and  a  fleet  of  fifty-five  merchant-vessels. 

\ 


1 84  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

ber  of  the  ministry,  because,  so  long  as  these  two  con 
tinue  in  office,  they  may  count  upon  Spain  with  certainty. 
From  hence  go  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  The  Duchess 
is  there,  and  Mr.  Short.  A  light,  pleasant  conversation  ; 
among  other  things,  her  picture  at  the  salon,  which  Mr. 
Short  thinks  is  perfect.  I  tell  her  Royal  Highness  : 
'  Madame,  ce  portrait-Id  n'a  qu'un  defaut  d  mes  yeux.'  '  Et 
qu'est-ce  done,  ce  defaut?'  'C'est  qu'il  ne  m'appartient 
pas,  Madame.'  The  Due  de  Penthievre  is  in  town,  and 
Madame  de  Chastellux  tells  me  she  is  sure  I  should  like 
him.  '  II  passe  sa  vie  a  bien  faire.  Oui  (pointing  to  the 
Duchess),  elle  est  bien  faite,'  etc.  The  Comtesse  de  Segur 
comes  in,  and  afterwards  the  Chevalier  de  Bouflers  ;*  then 
the  Abbe  St.  Phar.  Madame  de  Segur  asks  my  opinion 
of  the  affairs.  Talk  to  her  sensible  observations,  but  I 
cannot  go  farther.  She  gives  me  her  information,  that 
the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault  is  to  be  brought  into  the 
ministry.  At  half-past  nine  go  to  the  Louvre  to  supper. 
Madame  de  Rully  had  come  in  before  I  left.  She  gave 
us  some  anecdotes,  and  also  the  state  of  Corsica,  where 
her  husband  now  is  with  his  regiment.  At  Madame  de 
Flahaut's  we  have  Colonel  O'Connel  and  Madame  La- 
borde  his  friend,  with  her  husband.  After  dinner  the 
Bishop  comes  in,  and  the  rest  go  away.  I  tell  him  what 
has  passed  with  Lafayette,  as  far  as  is  proper,  and  my 
future  intention,  which  is  to  tell  him  that,  having  done  my 
duty  to  him  and  to  his  country,  I  quit  the  matter  and  leave 
him  to  the  course  of  events.  I  urge  an  union  with  those 
who  are  to  form  the  new  ministry,  and  that  they  avow 
themselves  to  the  people  as  candidates  and  let  the  Court 
know  that  they  will  come  in  together  or  not  at  all.  He 
thinks  this  right,  and  also  that  the  present  circumstances 

*  Marquis  Stanislas  de  Bouflers,  a  mediocre  French  writer. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  185 

have  sufficient  force  to  consume  another  administration 
before  things  are  entirely  fixed.  He  reads  us  his  motion  ; 
it  is  well  done.  Afterwards  we  talk  about  the  best  ways 
and  means  to  effect  the  intended  objects,  and  I  give  him  a 
few  hints  on  general  principles  tending  to  the  wealth  and 
happiness  of  a  nation  and  founded  on  the  sentiments  of 
the  human  heart.  He  is  struck  with  them,  as  men  of  real 
talents  always  are  with  the  disclosure  of  real  truth,  and 
this,  by  the  bye,  forms  a  principal  charm  of  conversation. 
Oh,  it  is  dreadfully  tiresome  to  explain  down  to  the  first 
principles  for  one  of  those  half-way  minds  which  see  just 
far  enough  to  bewilder  themselves.  Leave  the  Bishop 
with  Madame." 

"  Monday  [October  i2th],  I  visit  Madame  de  Flahaut  by 
appointment.  She  shows  me  a  letter  to  the  Bishop,  which 
is  perfect.  A  deep  knowledge  of  human  character,  an 
acquaintance  with  the  world  which  arises  from  reflection 
on  the  hearts  of  those  who  live  in  it,  and  the  most  just 
conclusions  of  the  regulation  of  his  conduct,  enforced  by 
the  tenderness  of  female  friendship — all  this  join  to  render 
a  hasty  production  perfect.  I  thought  well  of  myself,  but 
I  submit  frankly  to  a  superiority  which  I  feel.  She  told 
me  some  days  ago,  after  seeing  Mr.  Jefferson's  counte 
nance,  '  Get  homme  est  faux  et  emporteV  The  arrange 
ment  talked  of  at  present  for  an  administration  is  to 
make  Necker  Premier,  the  Bishop  d'Autun  Minister  of  Fi 
nance,  and  Liancourt  Minister  of  War.  Mirabeau  (who 
had  yesterday  four  hours'  conversation,  not  with  the  King 
but  with  Monsieur,  and  who  is  to  see  the  King  this  day) 
wishes  to  be  in  the  ministry  ;  an  embassy  will  no  longer 
content  him.  I  leave  her  and  go  to  Madame  de  Chastel- 
lux's.  At  about  eight  the  Duchess  comes  in  with  the 
Vicomte  de  Segur.  About  fifty  members  of  the  Assem- 
blee  Nationale,  it  is  said,  have  retired  ;  among  them  De 


1 86  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  VIII. 

Mounier  *  and  Lally-Tollendal.f  This  will  excite  some  sen 
sation,  if  it  be  true.  Go  thence  to  Madame  de  Laborde's, 
and  sup.  After  supper  make  tea  for  them." 

*  Mounier  was  a  man  of  strong  judgment  and  inflexible  character,  who 
considered  the  system  of  the  English  constitution  as  the  type  of  representative 
government  and  wished  to  effect  the  revolution  by  accommodation. 

t  Marquis  de  Lally-Tollendal,  a  deputy  from  the  noblesse  to  the  States- 
General  in  1789,  was  one  of  the  minority  of  his  order  who  united  with  the 
Tiers  Etat  and  favored  reform.  He  emigrated  to  England  in  1792. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  1 87 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Deputies  demand  passports.  The  streets  alive  with  disorderly  characters. 
Houses  marked  for  destruction.  Unsafe  to  walk  about  Paris.  Necker 
sombre  and  depressed.  Madame  de  StaePs  salon.  The  Duke  of  Or 
leans  leaves  for  England.  Morris  calls  on  Necker,  and  suggests  the 
idea  of  raising  the  price  of  bread.  Letter  to  Lafayette.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans  is  stopped  at  Boulogne.  News  of  insurrections.  Conver 
sation  in  Madame  de  Flahaut's  salon  about  intended  changes  in  the 
ministry.  Lafayette  commits  a  blunder  in  offering  himself  to  Mira- 
beau.  The  Cardinal  de  Rohan.  Flour  to  be  imported  from  America. 
Graphic  letter  to  Robert  Morris.  Madame  de  Flahaut  disconsolate  over 
the  reduction  in  pensions. 

T)EFORE  many  weeks  had  passed,  three  hundred  depu- 
JD  ties  demanded  passports.  An  indisposition  attacked 
them,  which  Louis  Blanc  calls  the  "maladie  de  la  con- 
tre-revolution  avortee."  Among  the  two  parties  which 
formed  the  counter-revolutionists,  there  were  differences 
of  action.  The  one  endeavored  to  shun  events,  the  other 
strove  to  ferment  new  agitations.  The  streets  were  alive 
with  women  of  no  character,  dressed  as  for  the  masquer 
ade,  who  entered  houses  and  demanded  money.  Later, 
houses  marked  for  more  or  less  destructive  purposes  were 
everywhere  to  be  seen.  Red  indicated  fire,  white  signified 
pillage  only,  but  the  black  mark  proclaimed  the  house 
doomed,  and  its  inmates  subjects  for  death.  Malet-du- 
Pin  *  wrote  to  some  one  that  moderation  had  become  a 
crime,  and  Mirabeau  told  the  Comte  de  la  Marck  that,  " given 

*  Malet-du-Pin  was  said  to  be  the  sole  newspaper  man  in  Paris  during  the 
Revolution  who,  without  insult  or  flattery,  gave  correct  analyses  of  the  de 
bates. 


1 88  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IX. 

up  to  itself,  Paris  in  three  months  will  probably  be  a  hos 
pital,  and  certainly  a  theatre  of  horrors."  Honest  women 
were  no  safer  than  courtesans  from  arrest  and  insult,  and 
hardly  dared  to  cross  their  own  door-sills.  Loustolot 
wrote  that  there  was  not  a  citizen  in  Paris  who  dared  to 
say,  "  To-night  I  shall  sup  with  my  children." 

During  these  days,  Morris  employed  himself  with  the 
necessary  calculations  and  estimates  for  the  purchase  of 
the  debt  to  France,  preparatory  to  an  interview  with  M. 
Necker.  "I  go  this  evening"  [October  i3th],  says  the 
diary,  "  with  M.  Le  Coulteux  to  dine  with  M.  Necker. 
He  is  sombre  and  triste,  and  so  engrossed  by  the  affairs  of 
subsistence  that  I  cannot  speak  to  him  upon  the  other  sub 
ject.  At  dinner  Madame  de  Stael  seats  herself  next  to  me, 
and  repeats  part  of  the  conversation  of  the  other  day  at 
Madame  de  Flahaut's.  The  Count  Louis  de  Narbonne  has 
told  it  to  her.  I  apologize  for  my  share  in  it,  and  add 
that  I  had  rather  say  twice  as  much  to  her  face.  My 
apology,  which  is  the  reverse  of  an  excuse,  is  accepted,  and 
she  asks  why  I  do  not  come  to  see  her.  '  II  y  a  longtemps, 
madame,  que  je  desire  avoir  cet  honneur-la  ! '  Some  civil 
things  are  said  on  both  sides,  and  I  am  to  visit  this  even 
ing." 

Quite  the  first  salon  of  Paris  at  this  time  was  that  over 
which  Madame  de  Stael  presided.  Her  regular  Tuesday 
evening  supper,  when  not  more  than  a  dozen  or  fifteen 
covers  were  laid  and  her  chosen  friends  were  admitted 
into  the  little  salon,  the  "  chambre  ardente,"  was  the  great 
feature  of  the  week.  Here,  the  candles  extinguished  to 
heighten  the  effect,  the  Abbe  Delille  declaimed  his  "  Cata 
combs  de  Rome,"  and  here  Clermont-Tonnerre  submitted 
to  the  criticism  of  his  friends  his  discourse  before  deliver 
ing  it  in  public.  Near  the  chimney  Necker  stood,  en 
tertaining  the  Bishop  of  Autun,  who  smiled  but  avoided 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  189 

talking.  Here  was  to  be  found  the  Duchesse  de  Lauzun, 
of  all  women  the  most  gentle  and  timid  ;  and  in  the  midst 
stood  the  hostess,  in  her  favorite  attitude  before  the  fire, 
with  her  hands  behind  her  back,  a  large,  leonine  woman, 
with  few  beauties  and  no  grace  of  gesture.  She  neverthe 
less  animated  the  salon  by  her  masculine  attitude  and  pow 
erful  conversation.  When  Morris  entered  the  charmed 
circle  on  this  particular  Tuesday,  he  found,  he  says,  "  De 
Narbonne,  who  is  of  course  with  Madame  de  Stael  this 
evening.  M.  de  Montmorin  is  also  there,  with  his  daughter, 
and  a  madame  de  Coigny,  said  to  have  beaucoup  d'esprit. 
I  feel  very  stupid  in  this  group,  which  by  degrees  goes  off 
and  leaves  madame,  three  gentlemen,  and  myself.  As  soon 
as  supper  appears  I  make  my  exit,  promising  her  to  come 
again.  Much  anxiety  is  felt  about  the  situation  of  public 
affairs.  Le  Coulteux  owned  to  me  this  afternoon  that  he 
has  no  hopes  of  a  constitution  but  from  the  hand  of  the 
King." 

"  This  morning  [October  i4th]  General  Dalrymple  * 
spends  two  hours  with  me.  Tell  him  he  must  introduce 
me  to  the  King's  banker,  who,  he  says,  is  very  rich. 
Tell  him  that  I  desire  such  an  introduction  because 
I  think  I  shall  possess  information  as  to  things  in  this 
country  from  which  money  may  be  made.  He  asks  im 
mediately  if  I  would  advise  speculations  in  their  funds  at 
present,  to  which  I  reply  in  the  negative.  He  tells  me 
that  the  Duke  of  Orleans  is  off  for  England  ;  he  wants  to 
know  my  opinion  as  to  his  journey.  I  am  surprised  at 
this,  but  conclude  that  some  transactions  of  his  Royal 
Highness  have  been  discovered  which  would  involve  dis 
agreeable  consequences,  and  that  the  King  has  desired 
him  to  go  off  by  way  of  avoiding  inquiry.  It  is  said  that  he 

*  General  Sir  Howe  Whiteford  Dalrymple,  a  British  general,  fought  in  sev 
eral  campaigns  in  the  war  against  France. 


DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IX. 

has  gone  on  business  of  a  public  nature,  but  this,  I  think, 
must  be  an  excuse,  because  no  man  in  France  is  more  per 
sonally  disagreeable  to  the  King  of  England.  Go  to  dine 
at  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  She  receives  a  note  from  the 
Bishop  d'Autun.  He  is  to  be  with  her  at  half-past  five. 
She  insists  that  I  shall  leave  her  at  five.  I  put  on  a  de 
cent  share  of  coldness.  Go  to  the  club  and  inquire  a  little 
about  the  departure  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  certainly 
is  sent  by  the  King  in  a  diplomatic  capacity,  but  there 
must  be  some  reason  not  diplomatic.  Go  from  thence  to 
General  Dalrymple's,  where  two  gentlemen  of  this  coun 
try  are  drinking  hard.  A  lady  of  a  certain  sort  is  at  the 
table.  Later  I  see  Madame  de  Flahaut ;  she  tells  me  that 
the  Bishop  will  not  accept  of  the  Finances  under  Necker. 
She  is  leaving  soon,  and  we  are  to  dine  a  trio  with  the 
Bishop  at  four  to-morrow." 

"  To-day  at  four  [October  i5th]  T  go  to  the  Louvre  as 
arranged.  We  wait  till  near  five  before  the  Bishop  comes 
from  Versailles,  and  then  sit  down  to  an  excellent  dinner. 
She  engages  us  to  sup  at  Madame  de  Laborde's.*  I  go 
away  and  visit  Madame  de  Segur,  who  begins  a  conversa 
tion  which  is  broken  in  upon  by  the  arrival  of  two  visit 
ors.  Go  from  thence  to  Madame  de  Corney's.  She  is  in 
bed  and  has  a  very  disagreeable  cough.  Go  to  Madame 
de  Chastellux's  :  the  Duchess  is  there,  as  usual  ;  also  the 
Vicomte  de  Segur.  Some  politics  with  him.  Madame  de 
'Segur  comes  in  late  ;  has  been  detained  by  her  visitors. 
Requests  me  to  visit  Lafayette  and  pray  him  not  to  go 
into  the  Council.  I  decline,  but  at  last,  upon  her  urgency, 
promise  to  write  him  a  letter  to-morrow.  Go  thence  to  the 


*  The  most  sumptuous  table,  perhaps,  in  Paris  was  that  of  M.  de  Laborde, 
over  which  presided  his  wife,  a  sensible  woman,  who,  wiser  than  many  others 
of  the  financial  set,  took  with  pleasure  and  graciously  the  advances  of  the 
grandes  dames,  but  withal  maintained  her  dignity. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  191 

Louvre  ;  madame  is  dressing  ;  is  much  fatigued.  The 
Bishop  arrives ;  I  tell  him  my  intention  of  writing  to  La 
fayette.  He  approves  of  it,  and  observes  that  he  must  be 
preserved  because  he  is  useful.  He  tells  me  that  he  will 
not  accept  of  a  place  in  the  present  administration,  and  I 
approve  of  that  determination.  He  is  received  with  in 
finite  attention  at  Madame  de  Laborde's,  which  proves  that 
they  expect  he  will  be  somebody.  Madame  de  Flahaut's 
countenance  glows  with  satisfaction  in  looking  at  the 
Bishop  and  myself  as  we  sit  together,  agreeing  in  senti 
ment  and  supporting  the  opinions  of  each  other.  What 
triumph  for  a  woman.  I  leave  her  to  go  home  with  him." 
"To-day  [October  i6th]  I  call  upon  M.  Necker  and 
mention  to  him  the  idea  of  raising  the  price  of  bread  in 
Paris  by  making  the  difference  fall  on  those  who  employ 
workmen  ;  so  that,  estimating  it  at  two  sous,  the  master 
should  be  obliged,  when  bread  is  at  four,  to  allow,  say,  two, 
three,  or  four  sous  additional.  Also  start  to  him  the  idea 
of  asking  the  Assembly  to  appropriate  a  sum  to  the  sup 
ply  of  Paris.  To  the  first  he  replies  that  there  is  no  wheat 
to  be  got,  and  he  treats  responsibility  to  the  nation  for 
such  use  of  public  money  with  contempt.  I  tell  him  that 
he  must  not  count  on  supplies  from  England  ;  at  this  he 
seems  alarmed.  I  offer  my  services  to  obtain  it  from 
America.  He  thanks  me,  but  has  already  given  his 
orders,  which  I  knew,  or  I  should  not  have  said  so  much. 
He  makes  no  mention  of  the  debt,  nor  I  either.  Go  from 
thence  to  the  club,  and  hear  a  little  of  the  sentiment  en 
tertained,  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  His  friends  appear 
chopfallen  and  defend  him,  which  is  absurd,  for  they 
know  not  enough  of  the  matter  to  make  an  able  defence, 
or,  if  they  know,  conceal  that  knowledge,  which  comes  to 
the  same  thing.  Visit  at  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  At 
eight  the  Duchess  comes  in,  and  remarks  to  me  upon  her 


IQ2  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IX. 

punctuality  ;  afterwards  Madame  de  Segur,  who  tells  me 
that  M.  de  Lafayette  does  not  go  into  the  Council,  at  least 
for  the  present.  After  making  tea,  etc.,  I  visit  Madame 
de  Flahaut,  who  has  just  returned  from  the  opera.  The 
Bishop  comes  in  and  I  read  my  letter  to  Lafayette,  she 
translating,  but  Capellis  comes  in  before  it  is  finished  and 
stays  till  twelve,  when  we  all  take  leave." 

The  letter  referred  to,  after  a  careful  revision  by  Ma 
dame  de  Flahaut  and  the  Bishop  of  Autun,  Morris  sent 
to  Lafayette  on  the  iyth  of  October.  It  is  as  follows  : 


PARIS,  October  16,  1789. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  took  the  liberty,  in  some  late  conversation,  to  give  my  sentiments  on 
public  affairs.  I  know  the  folly  of  offering  opinions  which  bear  the  ap 
pearance  of  advice,  but  a  regard  for  you,  and  the  sincerest  wishes  for  the 
prosperity  of  this  kingdom,  pushed  me  beyond  the  line  which  caution 
would  have  drawn  for  one  of  less  ardent  temper.  1  do  not  wish  you  to 
consider  this  as  apology ;  on  the  contrary,  I  desire  you  to  recollect,  both 
now  and  hereafter,  the  substance  of  those  conversations.  In  that  progress 
of  events  which  rapidly  advances,  you  will  judge  my  judgment. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  proposed  constitution  cannot  serve  for  the  gov 
ernment  of  this  country ;  that  the  National  Assembly,  late  the  object  of 
enthusiastic  attachment,  will  soon  be  treated  with  disrespect ;  that  the 
extreme  licentiousness  of  your  people  will  render  it  indispensable  to  in 
crease  the  royal  authority ;  that  under  such  circumstances  the  freedom 
and  happiness  of  France  must  depend  on  the  wisdom,  integrity,  and  firm 
ness  of  His  Majesty's  councils,  and,  consequently,  that  the  ablest  and  best 
men  should  be  added  to  the  present  administration  ;  that,  so  far  as  regards 
yourself,  you  should  take  care  that  those  who  come  in  be  sensible  of  the 
obligation  they  owe  you,  disposed  to  repay  it,  and  of  a  temper  neither  to 
desert  you  nor  their  sovereign  nor  each  other,  in  the  moment  of  danger 
or  for  the  sake  of  advantage  ;  I  consider  the  present  time  as  critical,  and 
that  if  neglected,  many  irreparable  mischiefs  must  ensue.  Such  are  the 
bodings  of  a  mind  not  easily  ruffled  nor  alarmed,  but  feelingly  alive  to  the 
interests  of  friendship  and  devotedly  attached  to  the  liberties  of  mankind. 
Certainly,  you  have  much  better  means  of  information  than  I  have.  Cer 
tainly,  you  have  that  intimate  knowledge  of  your  own  nation  which  it  is 
impossible  for  a  stranger  to  acquire,  and  most  certainly  you  have  perfect 


1789]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  193 

acquaintance  with  the  characters  which  stand  forward  for  public  observa 
tion. 

Let  what  I  have  said,  therefore,  go  for  nothing  ;  I  have  repeated  it  here 
as  being  in  some  sort  the  needful  introduction  to  what  I  am  now  to  com 
municate.  Last  evening,  in  company  with  some  of  your  friends  who  sup 
posed  me  to  enjoy  a  share  of  your  confidence,  in  which  I  assured  them, 
with  great  truth,  that  they  were  mistaken,  I  was  urged  to  visit  and  entreat 
you  not  to  go  into  the  Council.  Knowing  how  much  you  are  occupied  and 
how  improper  it  is  for  me  to  interfere,  I  declined  the  visit,  but  was  at 
length  prevailed  on  by  earnest  entreaty  to  promise  that  I  would  in  a  letter 
assign  the  reasons  which  influence  them  :  r.  That  your  present  command 
must  of  necessity  engross  your  time  and  require  undissipated  attention  ; 
and  in  consequence,  that  you  must  fail  in  the  duty  either  of  minister  or 
general.  2.  That  when  in  Council  your  opinions  will  not  have  more  weight, 
and  perhaps  less,  than  they  have  at  present,  because  at  present  they  are  re 
spected  as  coming  from  you,  but  will  only  be  received  in  Council  accord 
ing  to  the  reasons  adduced  in  their  support,  and  it  is  not  always  that  the 
wisest  man  is  the  most  eloquent.  3.  If  your  opinions  do  not  prevail,  you 
will  have  the  mortification  to  sanction  by  your  presence  the  measures  which 
you  disapprove,  or  quit  in  disgust  the  seat  which  you  have  taken.  4.  If 
your  opinions  prevail,  you  will  then,  in  your  quality  of  general,  be  called  on 
to  execute  what,  in  your  quality  of  councillor,  you  had  ordained.  In  this 
situation  the  public  opinion  will  revolt  unless  it  be  subdued.  The  one 
will  ruin  you  and  the  other  your  country.  5.  The  jealousy  and  suspicion 
inseparable  from  tumultuous  revolutions,  and  which  have  already  been 
maliciously  pointed  against  you,  will  certainly  follow  all  your  future  steps 
if  you  appear  to  be  too  strictly  connected  with  the  Court.  The  founda 
tions  of  your  authority  will  then  crumble  away,  and  you  fall,  the  object  of 
your  own  astonishment.  6.  The  retreat  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  is  attrib 
uted  to  you,  and  if  you  go  into  the  Council  immediately  after  what  is  called 
by  some  his  flight,  and  by  others  his  banishment,  the  two  events  will  be 
coupled  in  a  manner  particularly  disadvantageous  and  disagreeable.  7. 
If  you  go  into  the  ministry  with  Mirabeau,  or  about  the  same  time,  every 
honest  Frenchman  will  ask  himself  the  cause  of  what  he  will  call  a  very 
strange  coalition.  There  are  in  the  world  men  who  are  to  be  employed, 
not  trusted.  Virtue  must  ever  be  sullied  by  an  alliance  with  vice,  and 
liberty  will  blush  at  her  introduction  if  led  by  a  hand  polluted.  Lastly,  I 
am  earnestly,  most  earnestly,  requested  by  those  who  love  you  well  to  add 
one  caution  as  to  your  friends  :  Trust  those  who  had  that  honor  before 
the  1 2th  of  July.  New  friends  are  zealous,  they  are  ardent,  they  are  at 
tentive,  but  they  are  seldom  true. 

Excuse  the  liberty  of  an  old  one,  who  is,  truly  yours, 

GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS. 


194  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IX. 

"  Laurent  Le  Coulteux  dines  with  me  to-day  [October 
1 7th],  and  we  enter  into  conversation  about  the  shipment 
of  wheat  and  flour  from  America.  I  give  him  informa 
tion,  and  tell  him  if  he  chooses  to  take  an  interest  in  such 
business  he  may  have  it.  My  indifference  makes  him  de 
sirous  of  it.  He  proposes  a  concern  in  thirds,  to  which  I 
assent,  and  desire  him  to  prepare  his  letters  and  send  them 
to  me.  We  then  speak  of  the  tobacco  business.  He  is 
very  unwilling  to  give  the  credit  I  require,  hesitates,  and 
tries  to  evade  it.  Luckily  my  carriage  arrives,  and  I  tell 
him  that  a  pressing  engagement  obliges  me  to  leave  him. 
Drive  to  the  Louvre  and  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  the 
convent  to  visit  her  religieuse,  Maman  Trent,  who  is  as 
much  of  this  world  as  one  devoted  to  the  other  can  be. 
The  old  lady  admires  her  looks,  and  will  not  believe  that 
she  has  been  indisposed.  We  return  again  ;  I  leave  her 
to  receive  the  Bishop.  She  drops  an  expression,  for  the 
first  time,  respecting  him  which  is  cousin-german  to  con 
tempt.  I  may,  if  I  please,  wean  her  from  all  regard  to 
wards  him.  But  he  is  the  father  of  her  child,  and  it  would 
be  unjust.  The  secret  is  that  he  wants  the  fortiter  in  re, 
though  he  abounds  with  the  suaviter  in  modo,  and  this  last 
will  not  do  alone.  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux ;  the 
Duchess  is  there,  the  Marechal  and  Vicomte  de  Segur  ; 
make  tea.  A  person  comes  in  and  tells  the  Duchess  that 
her  husband  is  stopped  at  Boulogne.  She  is  much  af 
fected  ;  we  undertake  to  assure  her  that  it  cannot  be — 
though  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that,  in  the  pres 
ent  disordered  state  of  the  kingdom,  he  would  not  pass. 
She  is  very  solicitous  to  know  the  truth,  and  I  go  to  M. 
de  Lafayette's  to  inquire  it.  He  is  not  at  home,  or,  rather, 
if  I  may  judge  from  appearances,  he  is  not  visible. 
Thence  to  M.  de  Montmorin's,  who  is  abroad.  Return  to 
Madame  de  Chastellux's  ;  the  poor  Duchess  is  penetrated 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  195 

with  gratitude  for  this  slight  attempt  to  serve  her.  It  is 
very  hard  that  a  heart  so  good  should  be  doomed  to  suffer 
so  much.  Take  leave  ;  she  follows  me  out  to  express 
again  her  thankfulness.  Poor  lady  !  Go  to  Madame  de 
StaeTs  ;  a  pretty  numerous  company  ;  a  great  deal  of  vi 
vacity,  which  I  do  not  enter  into  sufficiently.  She  asks 
me,  while  I  sit  next  to  Narbonne,  if  I  continue  to  think  she 
has  a  preference  for  M.  de  Tonnerre.  I  reply  only  by  ob 
serving  that  they  have  each  of  them  wit  enough  for  one 
couple,  and  therefore  I  think  they  had  better  separate 
and  take  each  a  partner  who  is  un  peu  bete.  I  do  not  enter 
enough  into  the  ton  of  this  society.  After  supper  some 
gentlemen  come  in,  who  tell  us  that  there  is  a  riot  in  the 
Faubourg  St.  Antoine.  We  have  had  a  great  deal  of  news 
this  evening ;  a  number  of  insurrections  in  different 
places.  It  is  affirmed  by  madame,  on  good  authority, 
that  the  Duke  is  stopped.  Go  from  thence  to  the  club, 
where  we  learn  that  the  supposed  riot  is  a  false  alarm. 
But  my  servant  tells  me  that  they  expect  one  to-morrow, 
and  have  ordered  out  a  large  body  of  troops  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  grenadiers  of  the  late 
French  guards  insist  on  keeping  possession  of  the 
King's  person.  This  is  natural.  It  has  been  a  fine  day 
— something  like  what  we  call  in  America  the  second 
summer." 

"At  the  club   [October   i8th]  M. ,  who  is  one  of 

the  entours  of  M.  de  Lafayette,  tells  me  that  the  friends 
of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  will  (it  is  apprehended)  denounce 
him  tp  the  Assemblee  Nationale,  so  as  to  oblige  him  to 
return,  they  expecting  that  his  popularity  in  Paris  will 
make  him  triumph  over  his  enemies.  He  wishes  me  to 
go  and  dine  with  Lafayette,  but  this  cannot  be  ;  besides  I 
will  not  again  trouble  him  with  advice  unless  he  asks  it, 
and  perhaps  not  then.  At  three  visit  Madame  de  Flahaut 


196  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IX. 

The  Bishop  is  with  her.  Converse  about  the  intended 
changes  in  administration.  I  insist  that  Mirabeau  be  not 
brought  into  the  Council,  that  they  are  mistaken  in  sup 
posing  he  can  after  that  elevation  preserve  his  influence 
in  the  Assembly  ;  that  introducing  a  man  of  such  bad 
character  will  injure  them  in  public  opinion,  and  that 
everything  depends  in  the  present  moment  upon  the  pres 
ervation  of  that  opinion.  The  Bishop  tells  me  that  in 
his  opinion  no  administration  can  work  well  in  which  M. 
Necker  has  a  share.  After  he  is  gone  Madame  tells  me 
that  Lafayette  is  determined  not  to  let  Montesquieu  into 
the  war  department.  This  Mirabeau  told  the  Bishop,  and 
Montesquieu  told  her  that  Necker  declares  the  calcula 
tions  in  the  Bishop's  motion  are  pitiful.  This  accounts 
for  his  opinion  delivered  to  me.  Lafayette  has  committed 
a  great  blunder  in  opening  himself  to  Mirabeau.  If  he 
employs  him  it  will  be  disgraceful,  and  if  he  neglects  him 
it  will  be  dangerous,  because  every  conversation  gives 
him  rights  and  means.  She  tells  me  that  the  Bishop  has 
invited  himself  to  dine  with  her  every  day.  We  laugh 
and  chat.  I  go  to  General  Dalrymple's  to  dinner.  The 
General  says  he  is  well  informed  that  the  Due  d'Orleans 
was  on  his  knees  to  entreat  pardon  of  the  King.  De 
spatches  are  sent  off  to  urge  his  dismission  from  his 
keepers  at  Boulogne.  The  conversation  is  turned  by  de 
grees  to  American  aifairs,  and  I  tell  them  (which  is  true) 
that  they  have  committed  an  error  in  not  sending  a  minis 
ter  to  America.  They  are  vastly  desirous  of  convincing 
me  that  an  alliance  with  Britain  would  be  for  our  inter 
est,  and  I  swallow  all  their  arguments  and  observations 
in  such  a  way  as  to  induce  the  belief  that  I  am  convinced, 
or  at  least  in  the  way  of  conviction.  The  young  man 
thinks  he  has  done  wonders.  From  thence  I  go  to  the 
Louvre,  though  I  had  determined  not.  The  Cardinal  de 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  197 

Rohan  *  is  with  Madame.  We  talk  among  other  things 
about  religion,  for  the  Cardinal  is  very  devout.  He  was 
once  the  lover  of  Madame's  sister,  and  much  beloved.  He 
says  the  King  is  not  the  fool  he  is  supposed  to  be,  and 
gives  instances  to  prove  it  ;  but  the  Cardinal  is  not  the 
man  of  sense  he  was  supposed  to  be,  and  therefore  his 
evidence  is  not  to  be  taken  blindly.  Shortly  after  the 
Cardinal  goes,  M.  de  St.  Venau  comes  in  and  I  take  my 
leave." 

After  much  discussion  and  trouble,  Morris  and  M.  Le 
Coulteux  finally  agreed  to  import  30,000  barrels  of  flour 
from  America  as  soon  as  possible — "having,"  as  Mor 
ris  says,  "in  contemplation  the  relief  of  those  wants 
which  I  foresee  will  take  place  here  the  ensuing  spring." 
"I  am  persuaded,"  he  wrote  at  this  time,  in  a  very  graphic 
letter  to  Robert  Morris,  "for  my  own  part,  that  this  gov 
ernment  must  feel  secure  in  the  article  of  subsistence  be 
fore  they  take  the  measures  needful  for  the  order  which 
is  indispensable.  Everything  now  is  as  it  were  out  of 
joint.  The  army  without  discipline  or  obedience.  The 
civil  magistracy  annihilated.  The  finances  deplorable. 
They  have  no  fixed  system  to  get  through  the  difficulties, 
but  live  upon  expedients,  and  are  at  the  mercy  of  projec 
tors.  A  country  so  situated  may  starve  in  one  province 
while  another  suffers  from  its  abundance.  There  is  no 
order  anywhere.  I  have  only  once  attended  the  delibera 
tions  of  the  National  Assembly  since  September.  Indeed 
that  once  has  fully  satisfied  my  curiosity.  It  is  impos 
sible  to  imagine  a  more  disorderly  Assembly.  They 
neither  reason,  examine,  nor  discuss.  They  clap  those 
whom  they  approve  and  hiss  those  whom  they  disap 
prove.  But  if  I  attempted  a  description  I  should  never 

*  Cardinal  de  Rohan,  so  famous  for  his  complicity  in  the  affair  of  the  dia 
mond  necklace. 


198  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  IX. 

have  done.  That  day  I  dined  in  company  with  the  Pres 
ident,  and  told  him  frankly  that  it  was  impossible  for  such 
a  mob  to  govern  this  country.  They  have  unhinged  ev 
erything.  The  executive  authority  is  reduced  to  a  name. 
Everything  almost  is  elective,  and  consequently  no  one 
obeys.  It  is  an  anarchy  beyond  conception,  and  they  will 
be  obliged  to  take  back  their  chains  for  some  time  to  come 
at  least.  And  so  much  for  that  licentious  spirit  which 
they  dignify  with  the  name  of  'Love  of  Liberty.'  Their 
Literati,  whose  heads  are  turned  by  romantic  notions 
picked  up  in  books,  and  who  are  too  lofty  to  look  down 
upon  that  kind  of  man  which  really  exists,  and  too  wise 
to  heed  the  dictates  of  common-sense  and  experience, 
have  turned  the  heads  of  their  countrymen,  and  they  have 
run-a-muck  at  a  Don  Quixote  constitution  such  as  you  are 
blessed  with  in  Pennsylvania.  I  need  say  no  more.  You 
will  judge  of  the  effects  of  such  a  constitution  upon  peo 
ple  supremely  depraved." 

"To-day  [October  ipth],  I  hear  the  purport  of  Cantaleu's 
conversation  with  M.  Necker  about  the  debt  of  the  United 
States  to  France.  This  last  demands  a  million  louis,  which 
I  think  too  much,  and  says  that  he  cannot  think  of  pre 
senting  to  the  public  view  a  bargain  in  which  he  gets  less 
than  twenty-four  millions  [francs].  This  afternoon  I  drive 
with  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  but  we 
are  stopped  for  want  of  a  passport  at  the  barriere.  We 
make  a  short  visit  at  the  convent.  Madame  is  in  much  grief 
over  the  loss  of  her  income.  The  reduction  of  her  broth 
er's  affairs,  who  is  superintendent  of  the  King's  building, 
takes  some  of  her  support  from  her  ;  and  4,000  which  was 
due  by  the  Comte  d'Artois  vanishes  with  his  Royal  High- 
ness's  person.  Thus  there  remains  but  12,000,  and  those 
badly  paid,  being  a  rente  viagere.  With  this  little  income 
it  is  impossible  to  live  in  Paris.  She  must  then  abandon 


1789.)  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  199 

her  friends,  her  hopes,  everything.  Shortly  after  we  ar 
rive  at  the  Louvre  M.  de  Montesquieu  comes  in,  and  dis 
cusses  the  motion  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun.  He  disapproves 
of  the  calculations.  He  is  right  in  his  observations,  which 
are  precisely  those  which  I  made  to  the  Bishop  previous 
to  his  motion.  However,  good  may  be  drawn  from  the 
business  eventually.  Leave  them,  promising  to  return. 
Go  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's,  and,  as  usual,  make  tea 
for  the  Duchess.  Nothing  here  but  the  usual  chat.  Ma 
dame  de  Segur  is  here  and  Mr.  Short.  Return  to  the 
Louvre.  The  Marechal  de  Segur  tells  us  at  Madame  de 
Chastellux's  that  Mirabeau  was  to  be  in  the  ministry. 
Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  that  Montesquieu  says  he  is 
false  to  the  Bishop,  and  is  to  go  with  Necker  conjointly 
into  the  finances.  She  is  anxious  to  see  the  Bishop  this 
evening  ;  she  is  ill  and  apprehends  a  fever,  but  I  restore 
her  considerably  by  the  aid  of  a  little  soup." 


200  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Denis  Frangois  accused  of  secreting  bread  and  beheaded.  Paris  aban 
doned  to  cruelty  and  violence.  Martial  law  passed  by  the  Assembly. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans  liberated.  He  goes  to  England..  At  the  club. 
Chit-chat  in  Madame  deFlahaut's  salon.  Belgrade  surrenders.  Anec 
dote  of  the  5th  of  October.  Clermont  de  Tonnerre  proposes  going 
to  America.  Morris  asked  his  plan  for  restoring  order  to  France. 
Necker  unable  to  cope  with  the  difficulties.  Dinner  at  Madame 
Necker's.  Talk  about  Lafayette's  connection  with  Mirabeau  and 
with  Necker  on  plans  for  subsistence.  News  from  Flanders.  Asked 
to  take  part  in  the  administration  of  affairs.  Dines  with  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans.  Takes  the  Bishop  of  Autun  to  visit  Lafayette.  The 
Assembly  suspends  the  parlements.  Criticisms  on  the  society  in  Ma 
dame  de  Stael's  salon.  Lively  dinner  conversation  with  Madame  de 
Stael. 

IT  was  on  Wednesday,  the  2ist  of  October,  that  a  wom 
an  started  the  cry  that  Denis  Francois,  the  baker,  had 
secreted  bread.     The  shop  was  mobbed,  and  a  few  loaves 
were  found  put  aside  for  the  family  consumption. 

"There  has  been  hanged  a  baker  this  morning  by  the 
populace,  and  all  Paris  is  under  arms,"  says  the  diary. 
"The  poor  baker  was  beheaded  according  to  custom,  and 
carried  in  triumph  through  the  streets.  He  had  been  all 
night  at  work  for  the  purpose -of  supplying  the  greatest 
possible  quantity  of  bread  this  morning.  His  wife  is  said 
to  have  died  of  horror  when  they  presented  her  husband's 
head  stuck  on  a  pole.  Surely  it  is  not  the  usual  order  of 
Divine  Providence  to  leave  such  abominations  unpun 
ished.  Paris  is  perhaps  as  wicked  a  spot  as  exists.  In 
cest,  murder,  bestiality,  fraud,  rapine,  oppression,  base 
ness,  cruelty ;  and  yet  this  is  the  city  which  has  stepped 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2OI 

forward  in  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty.  The  pressure  of  in 
cumbent  despotism  removed,  every  bad  passion  exerts  its 
peculiar  energy.  How  the  conflict  will  terminate  Heaven 
knows.  Badly  I  fear ;  that  is  to  say,  in  slavery.  The 
court  of  the  Louvre  is  occupied  by  cavalry.  Go  to  the 
Champs  Elysees  where  I  see  General  Dalrymple.  He  tells 
me  some  additional  circumstances  of  what  is  passing  in 
Austrian  Flanders.  There  is  great  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Stadtholder,  supported  by  Prussia,  will  possess  himself 
of  that  valuable  territory.  While  they  are  about  it  they 
may  as  well  take  some  of  the  strong  posts  which  France 
holds  there,  with  some  of  the  little  principalities  upon  the 
eastern  quarter,  and  then  these  Low  Countries  will  form  a 
very  powerful  state.  Discord  seems  to  extend  itself  more 
and  more  through  this  kingdom,  which  is  remotely  threat 
ened  with  a  disunion  of  its  provinces. 

"  There  is  nothing  new  at  the  club  this  evening,  but  the 
Bishop  of  Autun  brought  the  latest  news  to  Madame  de 
Flahaut.  He  tells  us  that  the  Assembly  have  passed 
what  they  call  the  law  martial,  but  which  is,  properly 
speaking,  a  riot  act.  The  Garde  des  Sceaux  has  defended 
himself  this  day  before  the  Assembly  tolerably.  The 
Bishop  seems  to  have  no  great  desire  for  a  post  in  the  ad 
ministration  at  present.  I  think  this  arises  partly  from 
disappointment  and  partly  from  apprehension.  I  urge 
again  the  necessity  of  establishing  among  the  candidates 
for  places  such  arrangements  and  good  understanding  as 
may  endure  when  in  office,  and  contribute  to  the  attain 
ment  of  it.  After  dinner  the  Bishop  goes  away  and  Ca- 
pellis  comes  in  with  Madame  d'Angiviliers.  Some  inci 
dents  related  in  the  conversation  to  show  that  M.  de  Nar- 
~bonne,  Madame  de  StaeTs  friend,  is  'un  fort  mauvais 
sujet,'  which  accords  well  with  a  certain  obliquity  of  as 
pect  that  distinguishes  a  countenance  otherwise  good. 


2O2  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

Go  from  hence  to  Madame  de  Chastellux.  The  Vicomte 
de  Segur  gives  me  a  book  he  has  written,  and  desires  that 
I  will  give  him  my  candid  opinion  of  it.  It  is  a  supposed 
correspondence  between  Nifion  de  1'Enclos  and  her  lover, 
the  Marquis  de  Villarceaux.  The  Duchess  receives  a  note 
from  the  Due  de  Biron  that  the  Due  d'Orleans  embarked 
yesterday  at  nine  in  the  morning  with  a  fair  wind  for 
England.  It  is  said  that  three  persons  are  to  be  hanged 
to-morrow,  by  due  course  of  law,  for  putting  the  baker  to 
death.  They  are  wrong  to  defer  the  execution." 

"At  the  club  to-day  [Oct.  22d]  I  enter  into  some  discus 
sions  with  a  member  of  the  iStats-Generaux  or  Assemblee 
Nationale,  who  shows  his  own  imbecility.  At  leaving  the 
room  the  company  almost  commit  the  indecency,  so  com 
mon  in  the  Assemblee,  of  clapping  the  speaker  they  ap 
prove.  One  of  them  follows  me  out  to  mention  that  it  is 
in  vain  to  show  light  to  the  blind.  N'importe.  Go  to 
Madame  de  Flahaut's.  She  has  with  her  the  Due  de 
Biron,  who  soon  leaves  her.  She  tells  me  an  anecdote  of 
Lafayette,  not  much  to  his  honor ;  he  had  said  in  his  lit 
tle  society  of  Madame  de  Simiane,  in  speaking  of  the  Due 
d'Orleans,  '  Ses  lettres  de  creance  sont  des  lettres  de  grace.' 
The  Due  de  Biron  who  knows  all  the  steps  taken  with  the 
Due  d'Orleans  (his  friend),  wrote  to  Lafayette  on  this  sub 
ject,  and  has  received  an  answer  in  which  he  tells  him, 
1  Je  n'ai  pas  pu  me  servir  d'une  telle  expression  puisqu'il 
n'y  a  aucun  indice  contre  le  due  d'Orleans.'  She  says 
she  has  seen  the  letter.  Undoubtedly  the  Due  de  Biron 
will  make  it  tolerably  public.  I  leave  when  the  Marquis 
de  Montesquiou  comes  in,  and  visit  Madame  de  Chas 
tellux.  The  Duchess  arrives  late,  having  been  to  visit  the 
Queen.  Madame  de  Chastellux  tells  me  the  position  of 
affairs  in  this  family.  We  discuss  the  line  of  conduct 
which  the  Princess  ought  to  pursue,  and  as  she  is  in  the 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  203 

hands  of  the  Vicomte  de  Segur  and  of  Madame  de  Chas- 
tellux,  I  think  she  will  act  with  a  degree  of  understanding 
and  firmness  not  natural  to  her.  From  thence  return,  ac 
cording  to  my  promise,  to  supper  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's. 
A  good  deal  of  random  chit-chat,  in  which  she  plays  the 
moqueuse  on  my  bad  French.  This  is  not  amiss.  Stay  till 
twelve  and  then  we  all  quit.  Two  persons  have  been 
hanged  this  afternoon  for  murdering  the  baker,  and  there 
are  two  or  three  more,  it  is  said,  to  be  hanged  to-mor 
row." 

"  Write  all  the  morning  [October  23d],  and  then  take 
Madame  de  Laborde  and  Madame  de  Tour  to  walk  in 
the  Champs  Elysees.  General  Dalrymple,  who  joins  us, 
tells  me  that  Belgrade  has  surrendered ;  and  he  also 
tells  me  of  certain  horrors  committed  in  Arras,  but  to 
these  things  we  are  familiarized.  Leave  Madame  de 
Laborde  and  I  go  to  M.  Le  Coulteux's.  After  a  few  min 
utes  M.  de  Cubieres  comes  in.  He  gives  me  a  ludicrous 

account  of  the  conduct  of  the  Due  de on  the  famous 

night  of  the  5th,  and  afterwards  mentions  the  interview 
between  Lafayette  and  his  sovereign — the  former  pale, 
oppressed,  and  scarce  able  to  utter  the  assurances  of 
his  attachment  ;  the  King,  calm  and  dignified.  The  first 
request  was  to  give  the  custody  of  the  royal  person  to 
the  former  Gardes  Franeais,  now  Milice  Nationale. 
This  was  conveyed  in  the  form  of  an  humble  prayer  to 
be  admitted  to  take  their  ancient  post.  Cubieres  was 
then  obliged  to  retire,  as  some  persons  had  entered  who 
had  no  right  to  be  present,  and  in  leaving  the  room  he 
was  obliged  to  retire  with  them.  From  thence  go  to 
Madame  de  Chastellux's.  The  Marechal  and  Comtesse 
de  Segur  are  there,  but  a  fifth  person  is  present,  which 
prevents  conversation  of  any  interest ;  at  a  quarter  after 
eight  I  retire,  leaving  a  message  for  the  Duchess,  who  has 


204  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

not  kept  her  appointment.  By  the  bye,  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  hinted  this  morning  a  wish  to  be  among  the  women 
of  the  Duchess.  I  think  this  cannot  be,  mais  nous  ver- 
rons  s'il  y  a  une  place  qui  viendra  de  vaquer.  Visit  Ma 
dame  de  Stae'l.  Clermont-Tonnerre  is  there,  and  asks 
whether  he  can  be  decently  placed  in  America  for  60,000 
francs.  I  observe  that  he  is  despondent.  I  give  scope  to  my 
ideas  respecting  their  situation,  and  he  feels  from  thence 
no  small  remorse,  for,  in  fact,  the  evils  they  feel  arise  from 
their  own  folly.  Madame  gives  some  little  traits  of  re 
proach  for  the  weakness  of  mind  which  induces  an  idea  of 
retreat.  I  tell  him  that  I  have  abandoned  public  life,  I 
hope,  forever,  but  that  if  anything  could  prompt  a  wish  for 
a  return  it  would  be  the  pleasure  of  restoring  order  to 
this  country.  I  am  asked  what  is  my  plan.  I  tell  them 
that  I  have  none  fixed,  but  I  would  fix  my  object  and  take 
advantage  of  circumstances  as  they  rise  to  attain  it ;  as  to 
their  Constitution,  it  is  good  for  nothing — they  must  fall 
into  the  arms  of  royal  authority.  It  is  the  only  resource 
which  remains  to  rescue  them  from  anarchy.  Madame 
de  Stael  asks  me  if  my  friend  the  Bishop  will  sup  with 
her  this  evening.  'Madame,  peut-etre  M.  d'Autun 
viendra,  je  n'en  sais  rien,  mais  je  n'ai  pas  1'honneur 
de  son  amitieV  'Ah,  vous  etes  1'ami  de  son  amie.'  'A 
la  bonne  heure,  Madame,  par  cette  espece  de  consan- 
guiniteV  The  Bishop,  it  seems,  has  invited  himself  and 
M.  de  Tonnerre  to  sup  with  her.  Go  from  thence  to  Ma 
dame  de  Laborde's.  A  table  of  tric-trac,  and  a  good  deal 
of  chit-chat  after  it,  keep  us  till  one  o'clock. 

In  a  conversation  on  Saturday,  the  24th.  M.  de  Cantaleu 
told  Morris  "  that  Necker  had  sent  him  word  that  I  may 
make  my  propositions  regarding  the  debt  on  a  quar 
ter  of  a  sheet  of  paper.  Cantaleu,  like  the  rest,  is  very 
desponding  about  their  public  affairs.  He  says  Necker 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  20$ 

has  not  abilities  enough  to  get  through  his  business,  and 
that  there  is  equal  danger  in  holding  and  abandoning  his 
post.  This  is  very  true.  The  Ministry  and  Assembly  are 
on  the  eve  of  a  squabble,  whose  object  will  be  to  deter 
mine  which  of  them  is  to  blame  for  the  miserable  situation 
to  which  France  is  reduced.  There  is  to-night  at  Madame 
de  Chastellux's  the  usual  society.  The  Duchess  tells 
me  I  must  come  and  dine  with  her.  I  tell  her  I  am  al 
ways  at  her  orders  for  any  day  she  pleases.  She  tells  me 
to  come  when  I  please.  I  promise.  After  the  rest  of  the 
company  is  gone,  the  Chevalier  de  Foissy  and  I  stay  with 
Madame  de  Chastellux  and  chat  a  little.  She  says  she 
will  make  her  don  patriotique  by  presenting  me  to  the 
King  for  one  of  his  ministers.  I  laugh  at  the  jest,  and 
the  more  so  as  it  accords  with  an  observation  made  by 
Cantaleu  to  the  same  effect,  which  I  considered  as  bor 
dering  on  persiflage  at  least,  and  answered  accordingly." 

Mr.  Morris  mentions  on  Sunday,  the  25th,  spending 
the  evening  in  Madame  Necker's  salon.  "  M.  Necker," 
he  says,  "is  much  occupied,  and  I  cannot  speak  to  him. 
See  for  the  first  time  since  I  arrived  in  Europe  Count- 
Fersen,  whose  merit  consists  in  being  the  Queen's  lover. 
He  has  the  air  of  a  man  exhausted." 

On  Tuesday,  October  2yth,  an  invitation  came  to  dine 
with  Necker,  and  converse  about  the  French  debt.  "  I  go 
thither,"  Morris  says.  "  M.  de  Stael  is  very  polite  and 
attentive.  After  dinner  we  retire  to  the  minister's  cabi 
net.  Cantaleu  and  I  open  the  conversation.  Tell  M. 
Necker  that  the  terms  he  seems  attached  to  differ  so  ma 
terially  from  what  I  had  thought  of,  that  no  definitive  bar 
gain  can  be  made,  and  therefore,  after  fixing  the  terms,  I 
must  have  time  to  consult  persons  in  London  and  Amster 
dam  ;  that  he  is  the  best  judge  as  to  the  sum  below  which 
he  cannot  go  ;  that  I  will  not  attempt  to  bring  him  lower 


2C>6  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

than  what  he  thinks  he  can  justify,  but  if  it  is  too  high, 
I  am  off ;  that,  having  fixed  the  sum,  we  will  then  fix  the 
terms,  and  finally  he  must  be  bound  and  I  free  ;  that  it 
is  necessary  to  keep  the  transaction  secret,  because, 
whether  we  bargain  or  not,  if  my  name  be  mentioned,  it 
will  destroy  the  utility  of  my  friends  in  America,  who 
have  been  and  will  continue  to  be  firm  advocates  for  doing 
justice  to  everybody  ;  and  further,  that  if  it  be  known  in 
America  that  France  is  willing  to  abate,  it  will  be  a  mo 
tive  with  many  to  ask  abatements  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States.  He  feels  the  force  of  these  observations, 
and  desires  to  consider  how  far  he  and  M.  de  Montmorin 
can  treat  this  affair  without  the  Assembly.  He  does  not 
like  the  idea  of  being  bound,  and  leaving  me  free.  I  ob 
serve  to  him  that  nothing  is  more  natural.  He  is  master 
of  his  object,  and  can  say  yes  or  no.  But  I  must  apply  to 
others,  and  it  cannot  be  expected  that  rich  bankers  will 
hold  their  funds  at  my  disposal  upon  the  issue  of  an  un 
certain  event,  much  less  withdraw  those  funds  from  other 
occupation.  He  agrees  that  there  is  force  in  this  obser 
vation.  He  then  talks  of  ten  millions  per  annum  for  three 
years  as  being  a  proper  consideration.  I  tell  him  that  I 
cannot  agree  to  such  sum.  He  says  he  has  been  spoken 
to  about  it,  and  is  informed  that  he  can  discount  it  in  Hol 
land  at  twenty  per  cent.  I  tell  him  that  I  doubt  the  last, 
because,  having  been  in  correspondence  with  two  capital 
houses  in  Holland  relative  to  a  loan  which  I  am  author 
ized  to  make,  they  both  inform  me  that  the  several  loans 
now  opened  for  different  powers,  and  the  scarcity  of 
money,  renders  success  impossible.  De  Cantaleu  presses 
me  to  offer  terms.  I  mention  300,000  f.  a  month,  to  begin 
with  next  January,  and  continue  till  the  24,000,000  f.  are 
paid.  Here  this  part  of  the  conversation  ends.  He  is  to 
confer  with  Montmorin.  He  then  asks  me  about  the  ex- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2O? 

port  of  wheat  and  flour  from  America  this  season.  I  re 
ply  that  my  answer  must  be  much  hazarded,  but  at  length 
estimate  that  it  may  amount  to  a  million  bushels  of  wheat 
and  300,000  barrels  of  flour.  He  proposes  the  question 
whether  there  be  not  goods  in  France  which,  sent  out  to 
America,  may  serve  for  the  purchase  of  flour.  I  tell  him 
no,  for  that  goods  will  sell  on  credit,  and  flour  for  cash. 
He  asks  whether  it  would  not  be  well  to  send  ships  to 
America  for  flour  on  the  part  of  the  King,  for  such  a 
scheme  has  been  proposed  to  him  from  Bordeaux.  I  tell 
him  no,  because  the  alarm  would  be  spread,  and  prices 
thereby  greatly  raised  ;  that  the  ships  should  be  char 
tered  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  bound  to  take  wheat,  flour, 
or  tobacco,  and  then  they  might  proceed  in  the  usual  line 
of  mercantile  speculation.  Finally  I  drop  the  idea  that 
six  weeks  ago  I  would  have  contracted  for  the  delivery  of 
one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  barrels  of 
flour,  at  a  fixed  price.  He  asks  with  vivacity  why  I  did 
not  propose  it.  I  reply  that  I  did  not  choose  to  push  my 
self  forward,  which  is  a  slight  hint  that  he  might,  if  he 
pleased,  have  applied  for  information.  He  asks  why  not 
propose  such  a  contract  now.  I  tell  him  that  the  order 
he  has  already  given  will,  I  fear,  raise  the  prices  too  high 
in  America.  He  says  it  is  a  trifle,  only  30,000  barrels.  I 
tell  him  it  is  60,000,  but  he  says  the  last  30,000  is  very  uncer 
tain.  Rather  presses  me  to  make  an  offer.  I  tell  him  I 
will  consider  of  it. 

"Leave  M.  Necker  and  go  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's. 
She  is  in  bed  and  in  tears  ;  fears  that  her  brother  is  killed, 
or  rather  dead  of  the  wounds  he  received  at  the  capture 
of  Belgrade.  I  give  her  all  the  comfort  which  the  case 
admits  of ;  viz.,  a  hope  that  it  is  not  so,  for,  by  suspending 
the  stroke  a  little  while,  its  eifect  is  less  forcible.  The  let 
ter  she  has  received,  and  which  she  shows  me,  looks  ill. 


208  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

Converse  a  little  with  Madame  de  Segur  about  our  friend 
Lafayette's  connection  with  Mirabeau.  She  wishes  to  know 
what  I  would  have  him  do.  I  tell  her  that  if  he  did  me 
the  honor  to  ask  my  advice,  I  could  not  give  him  any 
good  ;  that  he  has  reduced  himself  to  the  situation  of 
making  Mirabeau  a  dangerous  enemy  by  neglect,  or  still 
more  dangerous  friend  by  aiding  him  in  his  views  ;  that  it 
is  M.  Necker  who  now  plays  the  handsome  part.  He  will 
not  stay  in  the  ministry  if  Mirabeau  be  admitted.  Mira 
beau  insists  on  coming  in,  and  if  he  succeeds,  M.  Necker 
has  the  desired  opportunity  of  retiring  from  a  post  which 
at  present  it  is  equally  dangerous  to  keep  or  leave.  Being 
forced  out,  Mirabeau  will  be  obliged  by  the  general  opin 
ion  to  abandon  the  place  he  has  acquired,  and  then  a 
ministry  will  be  chosen  entirely  new.  She  wishes  much 
to  know  who  I  think  would  be  proper,  and  mentions  the 
Bishop  d'Autun  as  having  a  very  bad  reputation.  I  tell 
her  that  I  doubt  the  truth  of  what  is  said  against  him, 
because  there  are  facts  which  show  that  he  has  some  virt 
ue,  and  merits  confidence;  that  he  has  talents,  but  that, 
without  being  attached  to  him  or  any  other  person  in  par 
ticular,  I  am  persuaded  that  France  can  furnish  men  of 
abilities  and  integrity  for  the  first  offices  ;  that  M.  de 
Lafayette  should  discipline  his  troops,  because  his  friend 
Mirabeau  may  otherwise  turn  that  weapon  against  him." 

"  Dine  at  the  Palais  Royal  [October  28th]  with  Madame 
de  Rully,  who  sits  for  her  picture  in  crayons.  She  has  a 
mind  to  coquet  with  me,  because  she  has  the  same  mind 
as  to  everybody  else.  A  madame  de  Vauban  who  is  here 
is  a  disagreeable  looking  woman.  The  interior  of  this 
manage  is  very  much  like  the  Castle  of  Indolence.  Go 
from  thence  to  the  Louvre.  The  Bishop  is  with  madame; 
he  asked  a  dinner  with  her  son,  who  is  arrived  this  day. 
Quite  a  family  party.  He  goes  away,  and  I  tell  her  that 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS,  209 

I  am  sorry  to  have  interrupted  such  a  scene.  She  dwells 
much  upon  her  child  and  weeps  plenteously.  I  wipe  away 
the  tears  as  they  fall.  This  silent  attention  brings  forth 
professions  of  endless  affection.  She  means  every  word 
of  it  now,  but  nothing  here  below  can  last  forever.  We 
go  together  to  Madame  de  Laborde's  and  make  a  short 
visit,  the  child  being  in  company.  Set  her  down  at  the 
Louvre,  and  go  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  The  Duch 
ess,  who  was  not  well  at  dinner,  is  very  little  better  now, 
or  rather  she  is  worse  ;  the  usual  case  with  those  who  suf 
fer  from  the  lassitude  of  indolence.  Sleep  becomes  neces 
sary  from  the  want  of  exercise  as  well  as  from  the  excess 
of  it." 

"  After  dining  with  M.  Boutin,  I  go  to  Madame  Necker's 
[October  29th],  where  I  speak  to  M.  Necker  on  the  sub 
ject  of  subsistence.  He  catches  at  the  idea  of  a  con 
tract  for  20,000  barrels  of  flour,  but  will  not  make  the 
kind  of  contract  which  I  proposed.  He  asks  me  what  the 
flour  will  cost.  I  tell  him  it  will  cost  about  3o/  sterling, 
and  I  offer  to  deliver  it  at  3i/  ;  he  wishes  it  at  3o/,  and 
desires  me  to  write  him  a  note  on  the  subject,  that  he  may 
communicate  to  the  King.  He  will  not  listen  to  the  idea 
of  importing  pork  and  rice,  and  giving  them  to  the  poor. 
I  endeavor  to  show  him  that  by  doing  this  and  letting  the 
bread  be  sold  at  what  it  costs,  the  treasury  would  save,  be 
cause  few  would  accept  the  donation,  but  all  derive  advan 
tage  from  the  loss  on  bread.  He  is  wrong,  but  humanum 
est  errare.  Go  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  Her  brother 
is  dead.  The  Duchess  comes  in  late  and  the  tea  is  delayed, 
and  finally  I  am  obliged  by  the  various  delays  to  leave 
them  abruptly.  At  the  Louvre  madame  is  waiting  for  me. 
We  go  to  Madame  de  Laborde's  to  sup,  and  M.  d'Afry  and 
I  are,  it  seems,  each  to  drink  a  bottle  of  wine.  I  perform 
very  nearly  my  task,  but  he  declines  entirely.  The  wine  is 


210  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

good,  but  the  strongest  I  ever  tasted.  After  eating  an  en 
ormous  supper  to  accompany  the  liquor,  I  make  tea  and 
then  chat  with  the  ladies." 

"  At  dinner  I  hear  [October  3oth]  the  news  from  Flan 
ders.  The  Austrian  Netherlands  seem  to  be  in  a  fair  way 
of  shaking  off  the  yoke,  and  it  is  said  that  they  have  a 
great  number  of  deserters,  both  officers  and  soldiers,  from 
the  Prussian  army.  It  is  to  be  concluded  that  Prussia  is 
concerned  in  the  business,  and  if  so  England  may  proba 
bly  be  also  for  something.  Indeed,  this  opportunity  is 
most  inviting.  There  appears  to  me  no  good  reason  why 
all  the  Low  Countries  should  not  be  united  under  one  sov 
ereign,  and  why  they  should  not  possess  themselves  of  all 
the  strong  places  on  the  French  frontier,  Calais,  Lille, 
Tournay,  Douay,  Mons,  Namur,  and  even  Cambray,  in 
which  last  place  there  is  absolutely  no  garrison,  for  the 
milice  bourgeoise  have  insisted  on  doing  the  duty,  which 
they  are  now  heartily  tired  of.  Namur,  which  is  in  the 
Emperor's  dominions,  is  absolutely  dismantled.  Go,  after 
dinner,  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's  and  make  tea  for  the 
Duchess.  She  presses  me  to  come  and  dine  with  her  soon, 
with  Madame  de  Segur.  I  promise  for  Monday,  to  which 
Madame  de  Segur  agrees.  Go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs  ;  a 
conversation  too  brilliant  for  me.  Sup  and  stay  late.  I 
shall  not  please  here  because  I  am  not  sufficiently  pleased." 

"  Saturday  afternoon  [October  3 ist]  I  go  to  the  Louvre, 
and  get  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  correct  my  letter  to  M. 
Necker.  Capellis  mentions  to  me  the  supplying  of  Brest, 
Rochefort,  and  Toulon  with  flour,  and  says  he  believes  they 
have  already  ordered  it  from  America.  I  tell  him  that  M. 
de  la  Luzerne  would  have  done  well  to  consult  me  on  the 
subject ;  that  the  different  departments  sending  separate 
orders  to  different  people  necessarily  raised  the  prices 
upon  each  other.  Take  tea  with  Madame  de  Chastellux. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  211 

The  Duchess  comes  in.  M.  de  Foissi  tells  us  that  the  debate 
on  church  property  is  postponed  till  Monday,  at  the  in 
stance  of  Mirabeau,  and  that  it  was  thought  the  motion 
would  have  been  negatived  had  the  question  been  put 
this  day.  The  Duchess  reminds  me  of  the  promise  to  dine 
on  Mcfnday  and  then  departs." 

"A  large  party  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's  on  Sunday  [No 
vember  ist]  ;  a  very  excellent  and  a  very  pleasant  dinner. 
After  dinner  Madame's  physician  comes  in  and  tells  her 
that  a  M.  Vandermont  has  said  of  rne  that  I  arn  an  '  in 
trigant,  un  mauvais  sujet*  and  a  partisan  of  the  Due  d'Orleans. 
He  insists  not  to  be  named  ;  she  tells  me  that  this  man  is 
very  dangerous,  being  a  mauvais  sujet,  and  wishes  me  to  speak 
to  Lafayette.  There  is  but  one  thing  to  be  done,  if  I  stir  at 
all,  and  that  is  to  call  on  him  and  tell  him  that  if  he 
speaks  disrespectfully  of  me  again  I  will  put  him  to 
death  ;  but  in  times  like  the  present  such  conduct  would 
only  give  an  air  of  importance  to  what  must  otherwise 
fall  of  itself,  for  I  am  not  of  sufficient  consequence  to  oc 
cupy  the  public  attention.  This  man,  she  says,  would  not 
scruple  to  bring  me  to  the  lanthorn,  in  other  words,  to 
have  me  hanged.  This  would  be  rather  a  sharp  retribu 
tion  for  the  remark  which  has  excited  his  rage.  On  the 
fifth  of  last  month  he  dined  with  me  at  M.  Lavoisier's,  and 
observed  that  Paris  maintained  the  kingdom  of  France, 
to  which  I  answered,  '  Oui,  Monsieur  comme  moi  je  nourris 
les  elephants  de  Siam.'  This  excited  the  choleric  humors 
of  a  pedant,  and  he  takes  his  revenge  by  saying  things 
which  are,  luckily,  too  improbable  to  be  believed.  On  the 
whole,  I  resolve  to  take  no  notice  of  this  thing,  particu 
larly  as  I  could  not  produce  my  author,  should  M.  Van 
dermont  deny  the  fact,  and  that  would  place  me  in  a  very 
ridiculous  position.  At  five  I  visit  the  Marquis  de  Lafay 
ette.  He  tells  me  that  he  has  followed  my  advice,  though 


212  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

he  did  not  answer  my  letter.  I  congratulate  him  on  what 
passed  two  days  ago  from  a  gentleman  to  the  Comte  de 
Mirabeau,  which  was  so  pointedly  affrontive  as  to  ruin 
him,  because  he  cannot  be  now  placed  in  the  ministry 
and  is  lost  in  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly.  He  asks  with 
eagerness  if  I  think  he  is  lost  with  them.  I  reply  that  the 
Bishop  d'Autun  has  just  expressed  that  opinion  to  me. 
He  says  he  does  not  know  the  Bishop  much,  and  should 
be  glad  to  know  him  more.  I  offer  to  give  them  a  dinner 
together  the  day  after  to-morrow,  or  if  he  does  not  choose 
it,  I  will  say  nothing  about  the  matter.  He  desires  me  to 
say  nothing  of  it,  because  if  he  should  dine  with  me  in 
stead  of  at  home,  it  would  make  an  histoire — which  is  true. 
He  wishes  me,  however,  to  bring  the  Bishop  to  breakfast 
with  him  the  day  after  to-morrow.  I  promise  to  invite 
him.  Go  to  Madame  de  Laborde's.  M.  de  la  Harpe 
reads  us  some  observations  on  La  Rochefoucault,  La 
Bruyere,  and  St.  Evremond.  They  have  merit  but  are 
liable  to  criticism.  After  supper  we  fall  into  politics. 
Monsieur  tells  us  that  the  municipality  of  Rouen  have 
stopped  some  grain  intended  for  Paris.  This  leads  to  ob 
servation  on  the  many-headed  monster  they  have  created 
in  the  executive  department.  He  exculpates  the  Assem 
bly  as  having  been  obliged  to  destroy  in  order  to  correct. 
But  the  necessity  of  such  an  apology  augurs  ill.  Indeed, 
whenever  apology  for  the  conduct  of  government  becomes 
necessary,  they  are  in  the  way  toward  contempt,  for  they 
must  acknowledge  misconduct  before  they  excuse  it,  and 
the  world  is  kind  enough  to  believe  the  acknowledgment 
and  reject  the  excuse." 

"  Monday  morning  [November  2d]  take  Madame  de 
Flahaut  and  Madame  de  Laborde  to  walk  in  the  King's 
Garden  and  then  to  the  Church  of  the  Sorbonne  to  examine 
the  monument  of  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu.  The  dome 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  213 

of  the  church  is  fine.  Go  later  to  the  Palais  Royal  to 
dine  with  the  Duchesse  d'Orleans.  I  arrive  late  and  have 
kept  dinner  waiting  half  an  hour.  Excuse  myself  as  hav 
ing  waited  news  from  the  Assemblee  Nationale,  which  is 
true,  because  I  stayed  at  the  Louvre  some  time  to  see  the 
Bishop  d'Autun,  who  did  not  come  in.  We  dine  well  and 
pleasantly,  with  as  little  ceremony  as  possible,  at  the  table 
of  a  person  so  high  in  rank.  After  coffee  go  with  Ma 
dame  de  Segur  to  the  apartments  of  Madame  de  Cha- 
stellux.  The  Marechal  reads  us  a  letter  from  M.  Lally- 
Tollendal  to  his  constituents  which  is  not  calculated  to  do 
much  good  to  the  Assemblee  Nationale.  It  will  not  do 
him  any  good  either,  for  the  King,  for  whom  it  is  meant, 
will  want  rather  those  who  can  render  the  Assemble  use 
ful,  than  those  who  absent  themselves  from  it.  The 
Duchess  comes  in  and  gives  us  the  bulletin  of  the  Assem 
blee.  They  have  determined  that  the  church  property 
belongs  to  the  nation,  or,  at  least,  that  the  nation  has  a 
right  to  make  use  of  it.  This  latter  expression  seems  to 
have  been  adopted  as  conciliatory.  From  thence  go  to 
Madame  de  Laborde's.  After  some  time  the  Bishop 
d'Autun  comes  in.  He  is  to  breakfast  with  me  to-morrow, 
and  go  thence  to  M.  de  Lafayette's." 

"  Tuesday  morning  [November  3d]  in  fulfilment  of  his 
promise,  the  Bishop  d'Autun  calls  on  me  and  we  breakfast. 
He  tells  me  that  M.  de  Poix  is  to  visit  M.  de  Lafayette  this 
morning,  in  order  to  make  terms  for  Mirabeau.  We  talk 
a  little  about  M.  de  Lafayette  ;  his  worth  and  what  he  is 
worth.  At  nine  we  go  to  visit  him.  The  cabriolet  of  M.  le 
Prince  de  Poix  is  at  the  porte-cochere,  whence  we  know  he 
is  here.  M.  de  Lafayette  is  closeted  with  him.  A  great 
many  visitors  and  affairs  render  the  minutes  for  our  con 
versation  short.  Lafayette  makes  professions  of  esteem, 
and  desires  to  receive  frequent  visits.  There  is  an  dmeute  in 


214  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

v  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine  about  bread,  which  leads  to  a 
consideration  of  the  means  to  supply  Paris.  Lafayette  pro 
poses  a  committee,  consisting  of  three  ministers,  three  of 
the  municipality  of  Paris,  and  three  members  of  the  Etats- 
Gene"raux,  and  says  there  is  a  man  who,  acting  under  such 
committee,  can  serve  the  supplies.  The  Bishop  thinks  the 
Assemblee  will  not  meddle.  I  am  sure  they  will  not,  be 
cause  they  act  only  from  fear,  and  will  not  risk  the  conse 
quences  of  being  responsible  for  the  subsistence  of  this 
city.  Lafayette  asks  the  Bishop  what  he  thinks  of  a  new 
ministry.  He  says  that  nobody  but  M.  Necker  can  sustain 
the  famine  and  bankruptcy  which  appear  unavoidable.  La 
fayette  asks  if  he  does  not  think  it  would  be  right  to  prepare 
a  ministry  for  some  months  hence.  The  Bishop  thinks  it 
would.  They  discuss  a  little  character,  and  as  par  hasard 
Lafayette  asks  whether  Mirabeau's  influence  in  the  As 
sembly  is  great,  to  which  the  Bishop  replies  that  it  is  not 
enormous.  We  fall  back  by  degrees  to  the  subsistence, 
and  I  suggest  a  hint  which  Short  has  given  me,  viz.,  to 
give  medals  to  the  poor,  representing  a  pound  of  bread, 
and  then  let  it  rise  to  what  price  it  may,  by  which  means 
the  Government  will  in  effect  pay  for  the  bread  they  eat, 
and  for  that  only,  whereas  they  now  pay  for  a  part  of  what 
everybody  eats.  On  this  the  Bishop  observes  that  the 
ministers,  in  this  moment  when  the  charge  of  plot  is  so 
frequent,  will  be  accused  of  a  conspiracy  against  the  na 
tion  if  they  make  largesses  of  bread  to  the  multitude.  I 
think  he  sees  that  their  plan  would  give  the  administra 
tion  too  much  power  to  be  removed,  and  he  is  right.  His 
idea,  I  think,  is  to  come  in  when  the  magazines  are  full, 
and  then  to  do  what  he  wishes  may  not  now  be  done.  La 
fayette  in  the  course  of  conversation  mentions  his  friend 
La  Rochefoucauld,  saying  at  the  same  time  that  he  has 
not  the  needful  abilities,  but  that  his  integrity  and  reputa- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  21$ 

tion  are  important.  I  think  this  is  the  only  man  he  will 
insist  upon,  and  I  think  any  person  we  please  may  be  ad 
mitted  as  the  price  of  the  duke's  admission.  The  Bishop 
says  he  cannot  think  of  a  new  ministry  unless  the  change 
is  entire.  Lafayette  agrees  to  this,  and  says  that  in  this 
moment  the  friends  of  liberty  ought  to  unite  and  to  un 
derstand,  each  other.  At  coming  away  the  Bishop  ob 
serves  to  me  that  Lafayette  has  no  fixed  plan,  which  is 
true.  With  a  great  deal  of  the  intrigant  in  his  character 
he  must  be  used  by  others  because  he  has  -not  talent 
enough  to  make  use  of  them.  Go  to  M.  Necker's  after 
setting  the  Bishop  down.  M.  Vauviliers  receives  me  in 
the  drawing-room  with  a  compliment  as  being  the  person 
who  is  to  feed  France.  After  dinner  M.  Necker  takes  me 
aside.  He  wishes  to  tie  me  down  to  fixed  periods  for  the 
arrival  of  the  flour  and  for  the  payment.  I  tell  him  I  wish  to 
have  a  house  to  contract  with  me.  He  says  I  run  no  risk, 
and  he  will  have  the  agreement  signed  by  the  King.  My 
carriage  not  being  come,  Madame  de  Stael  insists  upon 
taking  me  where  I  want  to  go.  Later,  when  I  go  to  the 
club,  I  find  that  the  Assembly  have  this  day  suspended  the 
parlements.  This  is  a  better  blow  at  tyranny  than  any 
they  have  yet  struck,  but  it  will  occasion  much  ferment 
among  the  numerous  influential  characters  which  they 
are  composed  of." 

"At  the  club  there  is  the  usual  diversity  of  opin 
ion  on  the  state  of  public  affairs  [November  4th].  Go 
from  here  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  The  Duchess  re 
proaches  me  for  going  away  early  last  evening  and  com 
ing  late  now.  Has  been  here  near  two  hours,  and  her  son, 
M.  de  Beaujolais,  is  brought  on  purpose  to  see  me.  He 
presents  himself  with  a  very  good  grace.  Is  enjouJ  et  em- 
presstf.  I  kiss  him  several  times,  which  he  returns  with 
eagerness.  He  will  make  a  pleasant  fellow  some  ten 


2l6  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

or  twelve  years  hence,  for  the  petites -mattresses  of  that  day. 
Puisignieu  is  here,  and  after  some  time  Madame  de  Segur 
comes  in.  The  Marechal  is  afflicted  with  gout.  Madame 
de  Chastellux  is  to  take  a  bouillon  to-morrow  with  her 
fair  friend.  Thence  I  am  led  to  believe  in  the  possibility 
of  a  marriage  between  her  and  the  old  gentleman,  which 
other  circumstances  give  much  room  to  imagine.  Go 
thence  to  Madame  de  Stael  in  consequence  of  her  invita 
tion  yesterday.  A  great  deal  of  bel  esprit.  The  Bishop 
d'Autun  declined  coming  this  morning,  when  I  asked  him 
at  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  I  am  not  sufficiently  brilliant 
for  this  consultation.  The  few  observations  I  make  have 
more  of  justice  than  splendor,  and  therefore  cannot  amuse. 
No  matter,  they  will  perhaps  remain  when  the  others  are 
effaced.  I  think  there  is  a  road  to  success  here,  in  the 
upper  region  of  wits  and  graces,  which  I  am  half  tempted 
to  try.  It  is  the  sententious  style.  To  arrive  at  perfec 
tion  in  it  one  must  be  very  attentive,  and  either  wait  till 
one's  opinion  be  asked,  or  else  communicate  it  in  a  whis 
per.  It  must  be  clear,  pointed,  and  perspicuous,  and  then 
it  will  be  remembered,  repeated,  and  respected.  This, 
however,  is  playing  a  part  not  natural  to  me.  I  am  not 
sufficiently  an  economist  of  my  ideas.  I  think  that  in  my 
life  I  never  saw  such  exuberant  vanity  as  that  of  Madame 
de  Stael  upon  the  subject  of  her  father.  Speaking  of  the 
opinion  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun  upon  the  subject  of  the 
church  property,  which  has  lately  been  printed,  not  hav 
ing  had  an  opportunity  to  deliver  it  in  the  Assembly, 
she  says  it  is  excellent,  it  is  admirable,  in  short  there  are 
two  pages  in  it  which  are  worthy  of  M.  Necker.  After 
wards  she  says  that  wisdom  is  a  very  rare  quality,  and  she 
knows  of  no  one  who  possesses  it  in  a  superlative  degree 
except  her  father." 

''This  morning  [November  5th]  the  Comte  de  Luxem- 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2 1/ 

bourg  and  La  Caze  come  to  breakfast  for  the  purpose  of 
knowing  my  sentiments  on  public  affairs.  At  dinner  I 
hear  the  news  from  Brabant,  viz  ,  that  the  imperial  troops 
had  been  much  worsted,  and  that  the  people  have  declared 
independence.  This  latter  part  is  certain,  for  I  read  the 
declaration,  or  rather  part  of  it." 

"  Spend  the  morning  [November  6th]  with  Le  Coulteux 
adjusting  the  form  of  a  contract  for  flour  with  M.  Necker, 
which  is  to  be  copied  and  sent  with  a  note  from  me.  Re 
turn  home  after  three  to  dress,  then  go  to  M.  de  Montmo- 
rin's.  Luckily  the  dinner  has  been  kept  back  on  account 
of  some  members  of  the  Etats-Generaux  or  Assemblee. 
After  dinner  he  asks  me  why  I  do  not  come  oftener.  He 
wishes  much  to  converse  with  me.  He  is  engaged  to  dine 
abroad  next  Tuesday,  but  any  other  day,  etc.  Chat  with 
Madame  de  Beaumont,  his  daughter,  who  is  a  sprightly, 
sensible  woman,  and  at  six  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  to 
the  opera,  where  I  am  so  weak  as  to  shed  tears  at  a  panto 
mime  representation  of  the  '  Deserters.'  So  true  it  is 
that  action  is  the  great  art  of  oratory.  Go  from  the  opera 
to  Madame  de  Chastellux's  ;  the  Comtesse  de  Segur  has 
been  there  with  her  children  ;  all  disappointed  at  not  see 
ing  me  ;  this  is  civil,  but  I  am  sorry  not  to  have  met  them. 
The  Duchess  has  left  her  reproof  ;  all  that  is  well  enough. 
Madame  tells  me  that  the  Prussian  General  Schlefer,  who 
commanded  the  army  of  10,000  men  sent  to  quiet  the 
troubles  of  Liege,  after  a  few  executions  which  restored 
order,  harangued  his  troops,  thanked  them  for  their 
zeal,  and  then,  by  reason  of  the  disordered  state  of  his  master's 
finances,  disbanded  them  ;  but  in  consideration  of  their 
former  services,  left  them  their  arms,  baggage,  etc.,  and  gave 
them  a  month's  pay  to  maintain  them  on  their  journey  home. 
In  the  astonishment  naturally  resulting  from  such  an 
event  the  patriots  of  Brabant  offered  them  very  advanta- 


2l8  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

geous  terms,  and  of  course  the  whole  army  passed  into 
their  service.  General  Dalton,  apprised  of  this  manoeuvre, 
immediately  applied  to  Count  d'Esterhazy,  command 
ing  at  Valenciennes,  to  know  if  he  would  receive  the  Aus 
trian  troops.  This  last  despatched  an  express  to  M.  de  la 
Tour  du  Pin,  the  Minister  of  War  here.  A  council  was 
held  and  the  answer  returned  this  morning.  Go  to  Ma 
dame  de  Laborde's.  In  the  course  of  the  evening  mention 
this  as  a  rumor,  the  authenticity  of  which  I  will  not  war 
rant.  M.  Bonnet  tell  us  that  such  a  report  being  spread, 
though  differing  materially  in  circumstances,  inasmuch  as 
it  related  only  to  a  request  to  be  admitted  unarmed  in  case 
events  should  render  a  retreat  necessary,  he  had  inquired 
of  one  of  the  ministers  and  had  been  told  that  they  had 
luckily  found  an  excuse  for  not  complying  with  Dalton's 
request,  in  the  want  of  subsistence,  already  so  great.  This 
is  weak  indeed  ;  they  should  have  received  those  troops, 
near  10,000  men,  and  marched  them  slowly  toward  Stras 
bourg,  there  to  wait  the  Emperor's  orders.  The  battalions 
he  has  already  marched  to  their  assistance,  joined  to  these 
and  to  the  foreign  regiments  in  the  service  of  France,  would 
form  an  army  sufficient  to  restore  order  to  this  kingdom,  and 
discipline  to  their  troops,  etc.  The  idea  of  those  who  differ 
with  me  is,  that  the  Parisians  would  immediately  assassinate 
the  King  and  Queen  ;  but  I  am  far  from  believing  in  such 
an  attempt,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  a  respectable  body 
of  troops  in  a  position  to  avenge  that  crime  would  be  a 
cogent  motive  to  prevent  it.  These,  however,  are  the  con 
jectures  of  a  private  man.  Unhappy  France,  to  be  torn  by 
discord  in  the  moment  when  wise  and  temperate  councils 
would  have  led  thee  to  the  pinnacle  of  human  greatness  ! 
There  has  happened  this  day  a  very  strange  incident  ;  a 
person  who  says  he  belongs  to  the  family  of  Montmorenci 
(i.e.)  a  servant  of  one  of  them,  is  arrested  for  giving  money 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2 19 

to  a  baker  not  to  bake.  Either  some  of  these  persons  are 
mad,  or  else  their  enemies  have  a  wickedness  of  invention 
worthy  of  the  prime  mover  of  evil.  At  going  away  this 
evening  the  Comte  de  Luxembourg  takes  me  aside  and 
asks  if  I  have  thought  of  a  person  for  Prime  Minister  of 
this  country.  I  repeat  what  I  told  him  on  Thursday,  that 
I  am  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  men  and  things  here 
to  hazard  opinions  ;  that  France  has  my  best  wishes  for 
her  prosperity  and  sincere  regret  for  her  situation.  He  is 
to  breakfast  with  me  on  Monday.  This  evening,  not  being 
able  to  obtain  cream  for  her  tea,  one  of  the  company  pro 
posed  to  Madame  de  Laborde  to  try  a  species  of  cheese. 
This  odd  proposition  was  adopted,  and  to  my  amazement 
it  proved  to  be  the  best  cream  which  I  have  tasted  in 
Paris.  I  get  home  late,  and  find  a  letter  from  Cantaleu, 
desiring  my  aid  to  combat  a  proposition  made  in  the  As 
sembly  this  morning  by  Mirabeau.  It  is  to  send  an  em 
bassy  extraordinary  to  America,  to  desire  payment  of  the 
debt  to  France,  in  corn  and  flour." 

"  This  morning  [November  yth]  Cantaleu  breakfasts 
with  me,  and  we  prepare  his  argument  against  Mirabeau's 
proposition.  I  hear  that  M.  Necker  is  making  inquiries 
as  to  the  price  at  which  flour  can  be  delivered  here.  I  tell 
my  informer,  who  wishes  to  know  my  sentiments,  that  if 
M.  Necker  has  set  on  foot  such  an  inquiry  it  is  with  a 
view  to  chaffering  in  a  bargain  he  is  about  to  make  ;  that 
I  have  told  him  the  price  which  the  flour  will  cost.  Call 
at  half-past  three  on  Madame  de  Flahaut.  The  Bishop 
comes  immediately  after.  The  event  of  Mirabeau's  prop 
ositions,  levelled  at  the  ministry,  has  been  a  resolu 
tion  that  no  member  of  the  present  States-General  shall 
be  admitted  to  share  in  the  administration.  Some  meas 
ures  have  been  taken  to  guard  the  church  property,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Bishop.  The  news  which  Madame  de 


22O  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

Chastellux  communicated  last  evening  are,  I  believe,  en 
tirely  false,  and  yet  they  were  told  to  her  by  a  confidential 
person.  To  be  sparing  of  one's  faith  is  in  this  country 
to  economize  one's  reputation." 

"Engaged  all  the  morning  [November  8th]  writing.  At 
three  I  dine  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  We  have  an  excel 
lent  dinner,  and,  as  usual,  a  conversation  extremely  gay. 
After  dinner,  the  company  go  to  cards,  and  I  who  have  im 
posed  upon  myself  the  law  not  to  play,  read  a  motion  of 
the  Comte  de  Mirabeau,  in  which  he  shows  very  truly  the 
dreadful  situation  of  credit  in  this  country,  but  he  is  not 
so  successful  in  applying  a  remedy  as  in  disclosing  the 
disease.  This  man  will  always  be  powerful  in  opposition, 
but  never  great  in  administration.  His  understanding  is, 
I  believe,  impaired  by  the  perversion  of  his  heart.  There 
is  a  fact  which  very  few  seem  to  be  apprised  of,  viz., 
that  a  sound  mind  cannot  exist  where  the  morals  are  un 
sound.  Sinister  designs  render  the  view  of  things  oblique. 
From  the  Louvre  go  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  The 
Comte  de  Segur  and  his  amiable  daughter-in-law  are 
there.  Make  a  declaration  of  love  to  her  in  jest,  which  I 
might  have  done  in  earnest ;  but  as  she  expects  every 
hour  a  husband  whom  she  loves,  neither  the  jest  nor  ear 
nest  would  be  of  consequence." 

Formality  seems  to  have  taken  no  part  in  the  arrange 
ment  of  dinner  guests,  for  Morris  says,  "  I  go  to-day 
[November  Qth]  to  dine  at  M.  Necker's,  and  place  myself 
next  to  Madame  de  Stael,  and  as  our  conversation  grows 
animated,  she  desires  me  to  speak  English,  which  her  hus 
band  does  not  understand.  Afterwards  in  looking  round 
the  table,  I  observe  in  him  much  emotion.  I  tell  her  that 
he  loves  her  distractedly,  which  she  says  she  knows,  and 
that  it  renders  her  miserable.  Condole  with  her  a  little 
on  her  widowhood,  the  Chevalier  de  Narbonne  being  ab- 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  221 

sent  in  Franche-Comte.  Much  conversation  about  the 
Bishop  d'Autun.  I  desire  her  to  let  me  know  if  he  suc 
ceeds,  because  I  will,  in  such  case,  make  advantage  of  such 
intelligence  in  making  my  court  to  Madame  de  Flahaut. 
A  proposition  more  whimsical  could  hardly  be  made  to  a 
woman,  but  the  manner  is  everything,  and  so  it  passes. 
She  tells  me  she  rather  invites  than  repels  those  who  in 
cline  to  be  attentive,  and  some  time  after  says  that  perhaps 
I  may  become  an  admirer.  I  tell  her  that  it  is  not  impos 
sible  ;  but,  as  a  previous  condition,  she  must  agree  not  to 
repel  me,  which  she  promises.  After  dinner  I  seek  a  con 
versation  with  the  husband,  which  relieves  him.  He  in 
veighs  bitterly  against  the  manners  of  this  country,  and 
the  cruelty  of  alienating  a  wife's  affections.  He  says  that 
women  here  are  more  corrupt  in  their  minds  and  hearts 
than  in  any  other  way.  I  regret  with  him,  on  general 
grounds,  that  prostration  of  morals  which  unfits  them  for 
good  government.  Hence,  he  concludes,  and  I  believe 
truly,  that  I  shall  not  contribute  towards  making  him  un 
comfortable. 

"  When  M.  Necker  has  got  rid  of  those  who  environ 
him  he  takes  me  into  his  cabinet,  observes  that  I  have 
stipulated  to  receive  such  premium  as  the  court  may  give 
for  other  flour  on  importation  of  the  first  20,000  barrels. 
I  tell  him  that  he  must  feel  with  me  the  propriety  of  that 
stipulation,  but  that  I  presume  he  will  not  give  any  pre 
mium.  He  says  that  he  disapproves  of  it,  but  that  so 
many  urge  the  measure  he  shall  he  obliged  perhaps  to 
submit,  for  in  the  present  times  they  are  frequently  under 
the  necessity  of  doing  what  they  know  to  be  wrong.  He 
leaves  that  stipulation,  but  he  says  I  ought  to  be  bound 
in  a  penalty  to  deliver  the  20,000.  I  tell  him  that  I  cer 
tainly  mean  to  comply  with  my  contract,  but  that  he  also 
ought  to  be  bound  to  a  penalty.  He  proposes  ^2,000, 


222  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

assuring  me  that  it  is  only  to  comply  with  needful  forms. 
I  tell  him  I  have  no  objection  to  a  greater  sum,  except 
that  I  cannot  command  the  elements,  and,  of  course,  do 
not  know  how  long  it  will  be  before  my  letters  reach 
America.  He  says  that  they  will  not  exact  the  penalty 
on  account  of  the  delay  of  a  month  or  two,  upon  which  we 
agree.  He  pauses  in  amending  the  agreement,  at  the 
binding  of  the  King  to  a  like  penalty.  I  cut  the  matter 
short  by  telling  him  that  I  rely  on  His  Majesty's  honor 
and  the  integrity  of  his  ministers.  I  tell  him  that  I  ex 
pect  he  will  not  extend  his  orders  in  America,  and  he  says 
he  will  not,  but  rely  on  me,  for  which  purpose  it  is  that  he 
wishes  the  bargain  to  be  such  that  he  may  have  full  confi 
dence  in  it.  Having  signed  the  agreement,  which  he  is  to 
send  to  me  to-morrow  countersigned  by  the  King,  I  go 
later  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's,  make  tea  for  the  Duch 
ess  and  introduce  the  eating  of  a  rye  bread  toast,  which  is 
found  to  be  excellent.  The  Vicomte  de  Segur  comes  in 
and  tells  us  that  the  Baron  de  Besenval  has  discovered 
that  England  gives  two  millions  sterling  to  make  mischief 
in  this  country.  I  dispute  the  matter,  which  is,  I  am  sure, 
impossible.  He  insists  with  great  warmth  that  it  is  true, 
and  thence  concludes  that  the  tales  circulated  to  the  prej 
udice  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  are  false.  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  absurdity  in  all  this,  and  if  he  makes  such  a  de 
fence  for  the  Duke  everywhere,  he  will  convict  him. 
Madame  de  Segur  takes  me  aside  at  going  out,  to  remark 
on  this,  and  adds  her  persuasion  that  the  Duke  was  the 
distributor  of  the  money  given  for  these  wicked  purposes. 
The  Comte  de  Luxembourg  asked  me,  in  the  course  of  the 
evening,  what  should  be  done  to  ameliorate  the  deplorable 
situation  of  France.  I  tell  him,  nothing  ;  that  time  can 
alone  indicate  the  proper  measures  and  the  proper  moment; 
that  those  who  would  accelerate  events  may  get  themselves 


1789]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  223 

hanged,  but  cannot  alter  the  course  of  things ;  that  if  the  As 
sembly  become  generally  contemptible,  a  new  order  must 
naturally  arise  from  that  circumstance  ;  but  if  they  preserve 
public  confidence,  they  only  can  restore  this  country  to 
health  and  tranquillity,  and  of  consequence  no  private  in 
dividuals  can  in  the  present  moment  do  good.  He  says 
he  is  afraid  some  persons  will  be  precipitate,  and  show  an 
armed  opposition.  I  tell  him  that  if  any  be  so  mad,  they 
must  take  the  consequence  of  their  rashness,  which  will  be 
fatal  to  themselves  and  to  their  cause,  for  that  successful  op 
position  always  confirms  authority.  This  young  man  de 
sires  to  meddle  with  the  state  affairs,  but  he  has  not  yet  read 
the  book  of  man,  and  though  a  good  mathematician  I  am 
told,  may  yet  be  a  very  wretched  politician.  M.  le  Nor- 
mand,  whom  I  see  to-day,  considers  a  public  bankruptcy 
here  as  inevitable,  and  views  a  civil  war  as  the  necessary 
consequence." 

"  I  hear  from  Mr.  Richard  [November  loth]  that  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  offered  Beaumarchais  20  per  cent,  for  a 
loan  of  500,000  francs,  and  that  he  had  since  applied  to  their 
house  for  a  loan  of  300,000  francs,  but  in  both  cases  without 
success  ;  that  their  house  is  so  pushed  for  money,  they  know 
not  how  to  turn  themselves.  Go  to  dinner  at  Madame  La 
Tour's ;  arrive  very  late,  but,  luckily,  the  Comte  d'Afry 
and  the  Bishop  d'Autun  arrive  still  later.  We  have  a  bad 
dinner  and  more  company  than  can  sit  at  the  table.  Ev 
erything  is  ennuyeux  ;  perhaps  it  arises  in  a  great  measure 
from  myself.  Go  with  the  Comte  d'Afry  to  the  repre 
sentation  of  'Charles  Neuf,'  a  tragedy  founded  on  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew.  It  is  a  very  extraordinary 
piece  to  be  represented  in  a  Catholic  country.  A  cardi 
nal,  who  excites  the  king  to  violate  his  oaths  and  murder 
his  subjects,  then  in  a  meeting  of  assassins  consecrates 
their  daggers,  absolves  them  from  their  crimes,  and  prom- 


224  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

ises  everlasting  felicity,  all  this  with  the  solemnities  of 
the  established  religion.  A  murmur  of  horror  runs 
through  the  audience.  There  are  several  observations 
calculated  for  the  present  times,  and,  I  think,  this  piece, 
if  it  runs  through  the  provinces,  as  it  probably  will,  must 
give  a  fatal  blow  to  the  Catholic  religion.  My  friend  the 
Bishop  d'Autun  has  gone  a  great  way  towards  its  destruc 
tion  by  attacking  the  church  property.  Surely  there 
never  was  a  nation  which  verged  faster  towards  anarchy. 
No  law,  no  morals,  no  principles,  no  religion.  After  the 
principal  piece  I  go  to  Madame  de  Laborde's.  I  am  re 
quested  to  attend  Madame  d'Angivilier,  and,  as  the  devil 
will  have  it,  they  enter  on  politics  at  eleven  and  stay  till 
one,  disputing  whether  the  abuses  of  former  times  are 
more  grievous  than  the  excesses  which  are  to  come." 

"  This  morning  early  [November  nth]  the  Comte  de 
Luxembourg  comes  in  and  stays  all  the  morning.  He 
presses  me  hard  to  promise  that  I  will  take  a  part  in  the 
administration  of  their  affairs.  This  is  a  mighty  strange 
proposition,  particularly  from  a  man  who  has,  I  think,  no 
sort  of  interest,  though  indisputably  of  the  first  family  in 
this  country.  He  drops  the  idea  of  a  combination  which 
exists,  and  whose  intention  is  to  restore  affairs  to  a  better 
situation,  and  that  he  is  in  their  confidence.  But  two 
questions  naturally  arise  upon  this  subject :  What  they 
mean  by  a.  better  situation  ?  and  whether  they  be  not  persons 
who  think  they  can  govern  because  they  wish  to  govern  ? 
It  is  possible  that  this  young  man  may  be  connected  with 
people  of  greater  maturity  on  some  political  intrigue,  and 
may  be  authorized  to  talk  to  me,  though  I  doubt  both  the 
one  and  the  other,  particularly  the  latter.  I  make,  how 
ever,  the  same  answer,  which  I  should  do  to  a  more  regu 
lar  application,  that  I  am  wearied  with  public  affairs  ;  the 
prime  of  my  life  has  been  spent  in  public  occupations ; 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  22$ 

my  only  present  wish  is  to  pass  the  remainder  in  peace 
ful  retirement  among  my  friends.  I  add,  however,  for  his 
own  government,  that,  in  my  opinion,  no  change  can  be 
operated  at  present  which  will  be  either  useful  or  safe. 

"  After  he  leaves  me  I  go  to  Madame  de  Stael's.  The 
Bishop  d'Autun  is  here,  and  I  fix  with  him  to  dine  at  Ma 
dame  de  Flahaut's  with  the  Marquis  de  Montesquieu  next 
Friday,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  M.  Necker's  plan 
of  finance,  which  is  then  to  be  proposed.*  A  great  deal  of 
light  chit-chat  here,  which  amounts  to  nothing.  Madame 
Dubourg  is  so  kind  as  to  stimulate  me  a  little  into  con 
versation  with  her,  and  whispers  that  '  Madame  FAmbas* 
sadrice  fait  les  doux  yeux  a  M.  1'Eveque,'  which  I  had  al 
ready  observed,  and  also  that  he  was  afraid  I  should  see 
too  much." 

"I  dine  to-day  [November  i2th]  with  M.  de  Mont- 
morin.  After  dinner  converse  with  him  on  the  situation 
of  affairs.  He  tells  me  that  their  administration  has  no 
head,  that  M.  Necker  is  too  virtuous  to  be  at  the  head,  and 
has  too  much  vanity  ;  that  he  himself  has  not  sufficient 
talents,  and  if  he  had  he  could  not  undergo  the  fatigue  ; 


*  Necker's  plan  of  finance,  which  Morris  frequently  mentions,  was  an 
effort  to  induce  the  National  Assembly  to  consent  to  the  conversion  of  the 
Caisse  d'Escompte  into  a  national  bank  j.  the  commissioners  to  be  chosen 
by  the  National  Assembly  ;  the  notes  put  successively  ins  circulation  to  be 
fixed  at  two  hundred  and  forty  millions  ;  the  nation,  by  a  special  decree  of 
the  National  Assembly,  sanctioned  by  his  Majesty,  to  guarantee  the  notes, 
which  were  to  be  stamped  with  the  arms  of  France-  and  the  legend  ' '  Garantie 
Nationale."  He  also  proposed  that  the  capital  of  the  Caisse  d'Escompte,  which 
represented  then  thirty  millions  in  circulation  and  seventy  deposited,  should 
be  augmented  to  fifty  millions  by  a  creation  of  twelve  thousand  five  hundred 
shares  payable  in  silver.  Loustalot  opposed  Necker's  scheme  on  the  ground, 
that  it  would  simply  associate  the  nation  in  the  bankruptcy  of  the  Caisse 
d'Escompte,  for  if  the  Caisse  d'Escompte  had  the  credit,  it  had  no  use  for  a 
national  guarantee,  and  if  the  nation  had  the  credit,  it  was  not  necessary 
for  the  Caisse  d'Escompte  to  establish  a  Caisse  Nationale.  Bouchez  and 
Roux  mention  that  Necker's  project  made  but  little  sensation,  as  several  of 
the  journals  did  not  even  notice  it. 

'5 


226  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  X. 

that  as  to  great  measures  the  King  is  incapable  of  them ; 
and  therefore  he  has  no  other  method  of  acquiring  power 
but  to  gain  the  love  of  his  subjects,  to  which  he  is  entitled 
by  his  goodness  of  heart.  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me, 
when  I  call  on  her  this  evening,  that  she  wishes  to  have 
her  husband  appointed  minister  in  America.  Has  spoken 
to  Montesquieu  on  the  subject,  who  has  applied  to  Mont- 
morin,  but  was  told  that  the  place  was  given  ten  months 
ago.  I  had  already  told  her  that  it  could  not  be,  at  least, 
for  the  present." 

"  To-day  [November  i3thj  I  am  invited  to  meet  the 
Bishop  d'Autun  and  the  Duke  de  Biron  at  Madame  de 
Flahaut's,  but  first  to  take  Madame  de  Laborde  and  my 
fair  hostess  to  visit  Notre  Dame.  The  Bishop  d'Autun 
and  the  Duke  consider  M.  Necker  absolutely  ruined. 
The  Duke  tells  me  that  Necker's  plan  was  disapproved  of 
yesterday  in  the  Council,  or  rather,  last  evening.  Montes- 
quiou  comes  in  and  I  go  away,  as  there  is  a  little  affair  to 
settle  between  him  and  the  Bishop.  Visit  Madame  de 
Corney.  Leave  her  surrounded  by  two  or  three  persons, 
one  of  whom  is  engaged  in  the  discussion  of  the proces  of 
M.  de  Lambesc,  accused  of  the  crime  of  lese  nation  for 
wounding  a  man  in  the  Tuileries  on  the  Sunday  preced 
ing  the  capture  of  the  Bastille.  Return  to  the  Louvre. 
Madame  informs  me  that  the  affair  is  settled  between  the 
Bishop  and  the  Marquis.  Indeed,  it  could  not  be  other 
wise,  for  it  was  a  falsehood  related  of  the  former  to  the 
latter,  and,  of  course,  a  denial  put  things  to  rights.  Ma 
dame  being  ill  goes  into  the  bath,  and  when  placed  there 
sends  for  me.  It  is  a  strange  place  to  receive  a  visit,  but 
there  is  milk  mixed  with  the  water,  making  it  opaque. 
She  tells  me  that  it  is  usual  to  receive  in  the  bath,  and  I 
suppose  it  is,  for  otherwise  I  should  have  been  the  last 
person  to  whom  it  would  have  been  permitted." 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  22? 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Exodus  from  the  ranks  of  society.  Many  closed  salons.  Changed  state 
of  feeling.  Necker's  "plan"  for  the  Caisse  d'Escompte.  The  Pope 
quarrels  with  the  farmers-general.  Opposition  to  Necker.  Mirabeau 
describes  the  Assembly.  Lafayette's  ambition.  A  tedious  session. 
Interview  with  Necker.  Tea  at  Madame  de  Laborde's.  Plan  for 
dealing  with  the  American  debt  to  France.  Necker  converses  on  the 
constitution  then  preparing.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  asks  advice  as  to 
speaking  in  the  Assembly.  A  rumor  that  he  is  to  be  appointed  Ameri 
can  Minister  to  the  Court  of  Louis  XVI.  An  evening  in  Madame  de 
StaeTs  salon.  Tact  of  the  hostess.  Clermont-Tonnerre  reads  a  dis 
course.  Necker  speculates  as  to  the  issue  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  of  paper  money.  The  Abbe  Delille  reads  his  own  verses 
in  Madame  de  Chastellux's  drawing-room. 

BY  November  society  began  to  feel  the  exodus  from  its 
ranks.  The  most  brilliant  salons  of  a  few  months 
back  were  closed  and  silent,  and  their  gay  inmates  lan 
guishing  in  foreign  lands.  In  the  few  that  remained 
open  the  society  forgot  that  persiflage  and  coquetry  which 
had  been  its  life.  The  hostess  forgot  her  tranquil  mode 
of  dispensing  hospitality  while  listening  to  the  heated  de 
bate  ;  and,  presiding  over  her  tea-table,  was  not  unlikely, 
in  the  excitement  of  political  discussion,  ungracefully  to 
spill  the  scalding  liquid  over  her  hands.  Men  forgot  to 
make  k>ve  to  their  hostesses  in  their  eagerness  to  read  to 
them  the  latest  news  in  the  Gazette,  and  strangest  of  all, 
the  women  forgot  to  notice  the  cessation  of  compliments 
and  love-making  in  their  zeal  to  discuss  a  motion  to  be 
made  by  a  deputy,  or  the  latest  brochure  of  a  friend. 
The  salon  of  Madame  de  Beauharnais  still  flourished,  and 


228  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

she,  with  her  pretty,  very  feminine  and  enjuponnJ talent,  en 
tirely  inoffensive  to  the  amour  propre  of  the  sterner  sex, 
continued  to  draw  about  her  a  coterie  who  bemoaned  the 
insensibility  of  the  world  to  their  literary  efforts.  Here 
la  liberte  et  re'galitt,  those  dames  d'atours  of  madame,  her 
counsellors  les  plus  intimes,  presided.  Madame  had  herself 
once  made  two  or  three  jolts  mots,  and  contented  herself 
by  repeating  them  at  intervals.  Madame  also  knew  how 
to  listen,  or  appear  to  listen  when  she  never  listened  at  all, 
and  here  literature  was  the  god  to  which  they  dedicated 
themselves ;  here  Voltaire  was  crowned.  Society  must 
find  relief  from  constant  political  conversation,  and  the 
gaming-table  offered  the  best  advantages.  It  became  the 
resort  of  the  deputy,  worn  out  trying  to  hear  or  make  him 
self  heard  in  a  disorderly  seance,  and  of  the  noblesse  who 
played  for  money  for  daily  expenses  ;  and  so  it  was  that 
the  gaming-table,  offering  so  much  to  so  many,  continued 
through  all  the  shiftings  and  changes  of  events  and  people 
in  Paris,  and  flourished  until  the  days  of  the  Terror. 

There  was  now  a  general  unrest,  a  murmuring  and  spas 
modic  movement  in  the  streets  of  Paris  —  one  day  like 
those  of  a  dead  city ;  the  next  awake  with  a  feverish  ex 
citement,  and  orators  holding  forth  everywhere.  The 
National  Assembly  fought  over  the  constitution,  Necker 
struggled  with  the  finances  and  subsistence,  and  Camille 
Desmoulins  wrote  about  and  gloated  over  the  disclosures 
of  the  Red  Book,  with  its  list  of  fraudulent  pensions  and 
its  appalling  sum-total. 

It  was  Saturday,  November  i4th,  that  M. Necker  brought 
forward  his  plans  for  the  Caisse  d'Escompte,  which  was 
to  convert  it  into  a  national  bank.  "  M.  d'Aguesseau 
tells  me,"  Morris  says,  "that  Necker  proposed  his  plan 
with  much  modesty  and  diffidence.  No  opinion  can  be 
formed  of  the  reception  it  will  meet  with.  The  Chevalier 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  229 

de  Boufflers  and  the  Comte  de  Thiard,  whom  I  meet  at 
dinner  at  the  Duchess  of  Orleans's,  are  neither  of  them 
pleased  with  what  is  going  forward  in  the  Assembly. 
They  are  to  sit  three  times  a  week  in  the  afternoons.  Go 
to  the  Louvre  ;  Madame  is  in  bed  enrhumte.  We  have 
several  visitors,  Madame  Capellis  among  others,  who  tells 
me  that  the  Pope's  nuncio  is  to  be  of  our  party  next 
Monday  evening,  and  gives  me  to  understand  that  he 
wishes  to  be  acquainted  with  me.  I  do  not  suppose  that 
this  arises  from  any  great  devotion  on  my  part  to  the  Holy 
Roman  Apostolic  See.  While  I  am  visiting  I  am  troubled 
with  spasmodic  affections  of  the  nervous  system  which  give 
great  pain  at  times  in  the  stump  of  my  amputated  leg,  and, 
in  the  other  leg,  an  anxious  sensation  which  I  conceive  to 
arise  from  some  derangement  of  the  nervous  system,  and 
therefore  I  must  expose  myself  more  to  the  air  and  take 
exercise.  The  wind  has  blown  all  night  very  hard  and  con 
tinues  high  this  morning.  I  think  it  is  from  the  southwest, 
and  I  fear  that  many  have  fallen  victims  to  its  rage.  Gen 
eral  Dalrymple,  whom  I  visit  after  dinner,  tells  me  that 
the  gale  of  wind  which  we  have  had  within  these  few  days 
has  committed  dreadful  ravages  on  the  British  coast,  and 
that  his  letters  announce  the  destruction  of  eight  hundred 
men.  He  considers  M.  Necker's  plan  as  flat  nonsense, 
and  tells  me  that  the  bankers  he  conversed  with  are  of 
opinion  that  it  is  good  for  nothing.  I  have  read  the  m£- 
moire,  and  I  think  this  plan  cannot  succeed." 

"  On  Monday  at  half-past  nine  call  on  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  to  take  her  to  supper  with  Madame  Capellis.  She 
is  in  bed  and  very  much  indisposed.  Stay  but  a  few 
minutes  and  then  go  to  supper.  The  nuncio  of  His  Holi 
ness  is  not  here.  It  is  the  day  on  which  his  courier  de 
parts.  Capellis  tells  me  he  wishes  to  bring  us  together, 
because  the  Pope  has  quarrelled  with  the  farmers-general 


230  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XL 

about  the  supplies  of  tobacco  formerly  taken  from  them  ; 
that  he  draws  them  now  from  Germany,  and  he  thinks  an 
agreement  might  be  made  to  furnish  his  Holiness  from 
America.  I  doubt  much  the  success  of  the  scheme,  for 
the  Pope  can  only  contract  from  year  to  year,  and  the  dis 
tance  is  such  that  half  the  year  would  be  consumed  before 
a  leaf  of  tobacco  could  arrive.  The  company  here  are 
much  disgusted  with  the  actings  and  doings  of  the  Assem- 
blee  Nationale." 

"To-day  [November  iyth]  I  hear  the  latest  American 
news,  which  were  conveyed  by  the  British  September  pack 
et.  Mr.  Jefferson  has  been  made  Secretary  of  Foreign  Af 
fairs.  After  some  visitors  leave,  I  go  to  the  Chatelet  to  visit 
the  Baron  de  Besenval.  The  old  gentleman  is  much  pleased 
with  this  attention.  We  talk  politics  a  little  and  he  takes 
an  opportunity  to  whisper  that  we  shall  soon  have  a 
counter-revolution,  which  I  have  long  considered  as  in 
evitable,  though  I  am  not  sufficiently  master  of  facts  to 
judge  from  whence  it  is  to  arise.  Go  to  club.  The  Par- 
lement  of  Metz  have,  it  seems,  acted  with  more  pointed 
opposition  than  the  Parlement  of  Rouen,  and  the  Assem- 
blee  will  fulminate  its  decrees  in  consequence.  The 
Church,  the  Law,  and  the  Nobility,  three  bodies  inter 
mediary,  which  in  this  kingdom  were  equally  formidable 
to  the  King  and  people,  are  now  placed  by  the  Assemblee 
in  direct  hostility,  and  they  have  at  the  same  moment,  by 
the  influence  of  ill-grounded  apprehension,  tied  the  hands 
and  feet  of  their  natural  ally,  the  King.  A  very  little  time 
must  unite  the  opposition,  and  when  united  they  will  of 
course  place  themselves  under  the  banners  of  the  royal 
authority,  and  then,  farewell  Democracy.  Go  from  the 
club  to  M.  de  Montmorin's.  Nothing  here  worthy  of  at 
tention.  M.  d'Aguesseau  and  M.  Bonnet  dine  with  us  ; 
the  latter  wants  some  information  about  their  affairs  in 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  231 

India.  I  tell  him  that  the  way  to  check  Britain  in  India 
is  to  make  the  Isle  of  France  un  port-d  armes,  and  a  free 
port,  etc.  M.  de  Montmorin  tells  us  that  he  proposed 
this  very  plan  in  1783.  M.  Bonnet  asks  me  if  free  ports 
in  France  are  necessary  for  us.  I  tell  him  that  I  be 
lieve  not,  but  on  this  subject  he  must  consult  Mr.  Short, 
who  is  our  representative.  He  desires  an  interview,  but 
M.  de  Montmorin  tells  him  that  Mr.  Short  can  have  no 
precise  information  on  the  subject.  In  effect,  when  this 
matter  was  first  agitated,  Jefferson  consulted  me,  but  I 
chose  to  preserve  the  respect  due  to  the  representative  of 
America.  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux.  She  gives  me 
an  account  of  the  interior  of  her  family.  The  Duchess 
comes  in,  and  the  Marechal  de  Segur.  He  tells  me  that 
Brittany  has  undergone  a  sudden  change  ;  the  Noblesse 
and  people  are  united,  and  they  will  reject  the  acts  of  the 
Assemblee.  M.  de  Thiard  had  told  us  that  something  of 
this  sort  would  happen.  The  Cambrises  are  also  discon 
tented.  Go  from  thence  to  the  Louvre.  Madame  is  in 
bed.  The  Bishop  arrives  ;  he  lays  down  his  hat  and  cane, 
and  takes  a  chair  in  the  manner  of  a  man  determined  to 
stay.  He  confirms  the  news  from  Brittany,  and  adds  that 
the  cochois  (?)  looks  black.  This  brings  to  my  mind  some 
dark  hints  communicated  by  the  Comte  de  Luxembourg 
about  Normandy.  I  told  him,  in  reply  to  his  apprehen 
sions  about  the  dismemberment  of  the  kingdom,  that  if 
Normandy,  Picardy,  Flanders,  Champagne,  and  Alsace 
continued  true  to  the  King,  His  Majesty  might  easily  re 
duce  the  remainder  of  his  kingdom." 

"This  morning  [November  i8th]  while  I  am  writing  La 
Gaze  comes  in.  He  tells  me  that  there  was  last  night  a 
meeting  of  the  actionnaires  de  la  Caisse  a'Escompte.  They 
have  named  the  commissaires  to  treat,  report,  etc.,  on 
Necker's  plan.  The  general  opinion  seems  to  be  opposed  to 


232  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

the  plan,  which,  indeed,  I  do  not  wonder  at.  Dine  with 
M.  de  Lafayette  on  the  Quai  du  Louvre.  He  does  not 
come  in  until  long  after  we  had  sat  down  to  dinner,  and 
yet  we  did  not  sit  down  till  five.  After  dinner  I  ask  him 
what  he  thinks  of  Necker's  plan.  He  says  it  is  the  gen 
eral  opinion  that  it  will  not  go  down.  He  adds  that  the 
Bishop  d'Autun,  or  somebody  else,  should  come  for 
ward  with  another.  I  reply  that  no  man  can  properly 
come  forward  with  a  plan  except  the  minister,  because  no 
other  person  can  know  sufficiently  all  the  needful  circum 
stances  ;  that  the  present  administration  must  be  kept  in 
their  seats,  because  the  late  resolution  of  the  Assembly 
prohibits  a  choice  of  ministers  in  their  body.  He  says 
that  he  thinks  he  can  for  once  take  a  ministry  out  of  the 
Assemblee,  provided  he  does  not  name  Mirabeau  and  one 
or  two  others.  Upon  this  I  observe  that  I  do  not  know 
whether  the  Bishop  d'Autun  and  his  friends  will  be  so 
weak  as  to  accept  of  office  in  the  present  wild  situation  of 
affairs  ;  that  nothing  can  be  done  without  the  aid  of  the 
Assemblee,  who  are  incompetent ;  and  that,  the  executive 
authority  being  annihilated,  there  is  but  little  chance  of 
carrying  their  decrees  into  effect,  even  if  they  could  be  in 
duced  to  decree  wisely.  He  says  that  Mirabeau  has  well 
described  the  Assemblee,  which  he  calls  the  Wild  Ass  ;  that 
in  a  fortnight  they  will  be  obliged  to  give  him  authority 
which  he  has  hitherto  declined.  He  shows  clearly  in  his 
countenance  that  it  is  the  wish  of  his  heart.  I  ask  him 
what  authority.  He  says  a  kind  of  dictatorship,  such  as 
Generalissimo,  he  does  not  exactly  know  what  will  be 
the  title.  Upon  this  I  tell  him  again  that  he  ought  to 
discipline  his  troops,  and  remind  him  of  a  former  question, 
viz.,  whether  they  would  obey  him.  He  says  they  will, 
but  immediately  turns  round  and  talks  to  some  other  per 
son.  Here  is  a  vaulting  ambition  which  o'erleaps  itself. 


i739.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  233 

This  man's  mind  is  so  elated  by  power,  already  too  great 
for  the  measure  of  his  abilities,  that  he  looks  into  the 
clouds  and  grasps  at  the  supreme.  From  this  moment 
every  step  in  his  ascent  will,  I  think,  accelerate  his  fall. 
Leave  this  place  and  go  to  the  Louvre.  Madame  has  com 
pany.  Stay  till  they  are  gone.  The  Marquis  de  Montes- 
quiou  was  here  when  I  arrived  ;  he  had  just  entered.  He 
is  running  round  now  to  smell  the  incense  which  will 
be  offered  him  for  his  plan  of  finance,  which  was  this  day 
communicated  to  the  Assembiee.  It  goes,  as  I  am  told, 
upon  the  basis  of  paying  off  the  national  debt  by  a 
sale  of  the  church  property.  I  tell  Madame  that,  if 
this  be  so,  it  will  prove  a  bubble,  for  the  reasons  long 
since  assigned  to  the  Bishop  d'Autun.  The  reliance  on 
this  fund  was  the  radical  defect  of  his  plan.  Go  hence 
to  the  apartments  of  Madame  de  Chastellux.  She  tells 
me  that  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  intends  to  imitate 
Washington  and  retire  from  public  service  as  soon  as 
the  constitution  is  established.  Perhaps  he  may  be 
lieve  this  himself,  but  nothing  is  more  common  than  to 
deceive  ourselves.  Sup  at  Madame  de  Laborde's.  The 
Comte  de  Luxembourg  tells  me  that  the  opposition  made 
in  some  districts  to  the  recalling  of  the  Gardes  dti  Corps 
has  prevented  the  execution  of  a  plan.  I  do  not  ask 
him  what  it  is,  because  I  do  not  wish  to  know.  He  tells 
me  that  M.  de  Lafayette  committed  a  great  imprudence 
in  telling  him  aloud,  in  the  hearing  of  many  persons,  that 
he  could  not  be  charged  with  preventing  it.  I  collect  from 
this  only  that  there  is  much  latent  animosity  against 
him,  and  that  while  he  is  building  his  castle  others  are 
employed  in  mining  the  foundation." 

"This  morning  [November  i9th],  while  the  Comte  d'Es- 
taing  is  with  me,  I  receive  a  note  from  M.  Le  Coulteux.  He 
has  been  three  hours  yesterday  with  M.  Necker  and  the 


234  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

Committee  of  Subsistence.  He  says  that  M.  Necker  will 
treat  with  me  for  wheat  at  six  shillings,  but  I  can  obtain 
six  shillings  and  sixpence,  and  that  he  has  fixed  an  inter 
view  for  me  with  Necker  at  seven  this  evening.  He  is 
obliged  to  go  abroad,  therefore  desires  me  to  consider  of 
the  means  of  execution,  and  call  on  him  before  I  go  to  M. 
Necker's.  After  a  walk  through  the  Champs  Elysees,  I 
go  to  the  Palais  Royal  and  dine  with  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans.  Thence  to  the  Louvre  to  get  a  ticket,  which  the 
Bishop  was  to  procure  for  the  Assemblee  of  to-morrow. 
Receive  it,  and  go  to  M.  Le  Coulteux's.  Converse  about 
the  means  of  executing  a  contract,  if  any  is  made.  He 
cannot  furnish  credit  or  money,  etc.  See  M.  Necker. 
He,  I  find,  expects  from  me  a  pointed  proposal,  and  tells 
me  that  M.  Le  Coulteux  had  named  the  quantity  I  would 
deliver,  the  price,  and  the  terms.  I  tell  him  there  is  some 
misunderstanding,  and  take  my  leave." 

"  This  morning  [November  2oth]  I  rise  early  and  go  to 
the  Assemblee.  Stay  there  till  four.  A  tedious  session, 
from  which  I  derived  a  violent  headache.  Mirabeau  and 
Dupont  are  the  two  speakers  on  M.  Necker's  plan  who 
command  the  most  attention,  but  neither  of  them,  in  my 
opinion,  derives  honor  from  the  manner  of  treating  it. 
Probably  it  will  be  adopted,  and  if  so,  it  will  be,  I  think, 
fatal  to  their  finances,  and  completely  derange  them  for 
some  time  to  come.  Sup  at  Madame  de  Stael's  ;  give  her 
my  opinion  of  the  speeches  of  this  morning,  and  show 
one  or  two  things  in  which  M.  Dupont  was  mistaken. 
She  does  not  like  this,  because  he  supported  her  father's 
plan,  which  she  declares  to  be  necessary." 

"Dine  to-day  [November  24th]  with  the  Prince  de 
Broglio.  The  Comte  de  Segur  dines  with  us.  A  pleasant 
company.  The  Bishop  is  of  the  number.  After  dinner  I 
give  him  some  hints  as  to  the  objection  made  by  many  to 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  235 

the  opposers  of  M.  Necker's  plan,  because  they  do  not 
come  forward  with  a  better.  Go  from  hence  to  M.  Neck 
er's.  The  mayor  and  the  Committee  of  Subsistence  waiting 
to  speak  with  him.  Send  in  my  name,  and  in  consequence 
he  comes  out  to  the  antechamber.  I  tell  him  that  I  can 
not  undertake  to  furnish  him  with  wheat ;  that  I  must 
either  ask  for  it  an  extravagant  price  or  risk  a  loss  ;  that 
I  do  not  choose  the  first,  and  will  not  incur  the  second  ; 
that  if  he  has  any  other  plan  for  obtaining  it,  in  which  I 
can  be  useful,  he  may  command  me.  He  is  a  little  disap 
pointed  at  this  intelligence.  Leave  him,  and  pay  my  re 
spects  to  Madame  Necker.  Leave  here  and  go  to  the 
Louvre.  The  insurgents  in  Brabant  seem  to  be  in  a  fair 
way  to  success.  The  Imperialists  are  in  possession  of 
Bruxelles  only,  and  are  besieged  there.  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut,  as  becomes  a  faithful  ally  to  the  Emperor,  quells  all 
insurgency  on  my  part.  Shortly  after  M.  de  Thiard  comes 
in.  He  gives  us  some  account  of  what  has  passed  in 
Brittany.  Among  other  things,  it  happened  that  the  mu 
nicipalities  quarrelled  about  subsistence,  and  the  matter 
went  so  far  as  to  use  force  on  each  side.  Each  in  con 
sequence  gave  orders  to  a  regiment  to  march  against 
the  other,  for  in  each  a  regiment  happened  to  be  quar 
tered.  Luckily,  a  compromise  took  place ;  but  this  is  the 
first-fruits  of  the  new  constitution  of  armies  and  municipal 
ities.  There  will  be  many  others  of  the  like  kind,  for,  when 
mankind  are  resolved  to  disregard  as  vulgar  prejudice 
every  principle  which  has  hitherto  been  established  by 
experience  for  the  government  of  man,  endless  inconsist 
encies  must  be  expected.  Sup  here.  Make  tea  for  Ma 
dame  de  Laborde.  Madame  de  Flahaut  complains  that 
she  has  not  a  handsome  sugar-dish  for  her  tea-equipage. 
This  is  by  way  of  introduction  to  the  story  that  she  (who 
pretends  to  be  very  avaricious)  would  not  accept  of  one 


236  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

as  a  present  from  me,  and  that  Madame  de  Laborde,  who 
pretends  to  be  disinterested,  accepted  a  handsome  cup 
and  saucer.  In  fact,  the  latter  was  done  in  consequence 
of  her  urgency.  I  insist  that  this  conduct  arises  from 
pure  malice,  and  write  with  my  pencil  the  following : 

Clara,  your  avarice  you  boast, 

And  boast,  too,  your  good  nature  ; 
I  know  not  which  you  prize  the  most, 

I  guess  which  is  the  greater. 

The  proffered  present  you  refuse, 

But  make  your  friend  receive  ; 
For  what  she  takes  you  her  abuse, 

And  me,  for  what  you  leave. 

This  has  been  a  fine  day,  clear  but  cold.  The  ice  remained 
all  day  in  the  shade." 

"  Go  to  see  [November  26th]  Madame  de  Brehan  and 
M.  de  Moustier,  who  are  just  returned  from  America. 
Converse  with  her  a  considerable  time,  always  inquiring 
news  of  my  country,  and  she  desirous  of  obtaining  the 
state  of  her  own  ;  natural  on  both  sides,  but  of  course 
much  variegated.  M.  de  Moustier  has  much  to  say  about 
the  American  debt,  and  gives  reason  to  believe  that  no 
bargain  can  be  made  for  it.  I  call  on  the  Marechal  de 
Segur,  who  is  ill  with  the  gout.  Some  conversation  about 
the  proposed  reduction  of  the  pensions.  I  disapprove  of 
it,  and  this  disapprobation,  which  with  me  is  sincere,  suits 
very  well  with  the  ideas  of  the  Marechal,  who  is  one  of  the 
most  considerable  pensioners.  See  De  Moustier  again  to 
night  at  Madame  de  La  Suze's.  He  is  now  well  pleased 
with  America  and  believes  in  her  good  disposition  and 
resources ;  is  charged  with  the  request  on  her  part  that 
this  Court  will  make  no  negotiation  whatever  for  the  debt, 
but  will  postpone  the  instalments  for  three  years  longer, 
and  then  the  interest  beginning  with  the  next  year  shall 
be  regularly  provided  for.  I  tell  him  that  I  think  M. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  237 

Necker's  plan  of  borrowing  on  it  in  Holland  is  liable  to  a 
great  objection ;  viz.,  that  the  Dutch  will  not  probably 
lend  without  being  so  authorized  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  as  to  have  a  claim  upon  them,  because 
otherwise  the  Government  of  America  might  pay  the 
amount  to  France,  and  refuse  to  pay  anything  to  Dutch 
individuals.  He  says  he  has  already  spoken  to  the  Comte 
de  Montmorin  on  this  subject,  and  to  some  members  of 
the  States-General ;  that  he  will  speak  also  to  M.  Necker 
whenever  he  desires  it.  This  will  certainly  interfere  with 
our  former  plan,  and  oblige  us  either  to  change  or  to 
abandon  it.  After  a  long  conversation  with  him,  and  much 
amity  from  him  and  the  Marquise,  I  take  my  leave. 

"See  M.  Laurent  Le  Coulteux  and  tell  him  the  plan 
which  has  been  digested,  of  offering  for  the  debt  to  France 
as  much  of  the  French  stocks  as  would  produce  the  same 
interest.  He  is  so  pleased  with  it  that  he  offers  himself  to 
be  the  negotiator,  provided  he  can  have  sufficient  security 
in  Holland.  This  is  vastly  obliging.  Agree  to  meet  at 
Cantaleu's  this  evening.  Go  to  Van  Staphorst's.  Tell 
him  the  objection  brought  by  Moustier  to  the  negotia 
tion  which  M.  Necker  has  proposed  in  Holland.  He  tells 
us  a  proposition  made  to  him  by  Lafayette  to  act  as  spy 
for  discovery  of  intrigues  of  the  aristocratic  party,  by 
which,  says  Lafayette,  a  civil  war  may  be  prevented.  We 
advise  Van  Staphorst  to  decline  that  honorable  mission. 
Parker  adds  that  it  should  be  declined  verbally,  so  as  to 
leave  no  written  trace  of  the  negotiation.  I  leave  them 
together  and  return  home  to  dress.  The  Comte  de  Lux 
embourg  comes  in  and  tells  me  a  great  deal  of  news,  which 
I  forget  as  fast  as  I  hear  it.  He  has  a  world  of  projects, 
too,  but  I  give  him  one  general  opinion  upon  the  whole, 
that  he  and  his  friends  had  better  take  measures  for  influ 
encing  the  next  elections.  This  afternoon  I  see  Canta- 


238  DIARY    AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

leu ;  he  seems  to  think  that  De  Moustier's  intelligence  is 
fatal  to  our  project.  We  have  a  great  deal  of  useless  talk  ; 
at  length  it  ends  with  my  desire  to  Cantaleu  that  he 
should  find  out  the  impression  made  by  De  Moustier, 
and  my  promise  to  talk  to  Necker  on  the  subject. 

"  Dine  at  the  Louvre  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  The 
Bishop  and  his  intimate  friend,  the  Due  de  Biron,  are  of 
the  party.  The  Bishop  asks  my  opinion  of  the  American 
debt.  I  tell  him  that  I  think  well  of  it ;  it  is  a  debt  which 
ought  to  be  paid.  The  Due  de  Biron  says  that  he  thinks 
it  will  be  paid,  and  I  agree  with  him  in  opinion.  I  tell  the 
Bishop  that  there  is  a  proposition  to  be  presented  to  M. 
Necker  for  liquidation  of  it  with  French  effets  bearing 
an  equivalent  interest.  He  thinks  that  the  offer  ought  to 
be  accepted.  After  dinner,  visit  the  Comte  de  Montmorin  ; 
mention  to  him  the  proposition  of  paying  the  debt  with 
effets.  He  desires  money.  He  says  that  they  have  no 
doubt  of  receiving  payment  from  the  United  States,  but 
that  they  want  now  to  receive  money." 

"The  Comte  de  Luxembourg  comes  [November  28th], 
and  detains  me  a  long  time  for  nothing.  Tells  me,  however, 
that  the  party  of  the  Nobles  are  determined  to  be  quiet. 
This  is  the  only  wise  conduct.  A  message  from  Madame 
Necker  to  dine  with  her  ;  I  presume  that  this  is  for  the 
purpose  of  talking  about  a  supply  of  wheat  which  I  en 
gaged  for.  Go  to  M.  Necker's,  and  am  introduced  into  his 
cabinet.  He  broaches  a  conversation  on  the  constitution. 
I  declare  my  opinion  that  what  they  are  now  framing  is 
good  for  nothing,  and  assign  my  reasons.  He  makes  some 
inquiries  respecting  the  American  Constitution,  which  I 
reply  to.  Ask  him  about  wheat  and  tell  him  the  manner 
in  which  I  would  have  executed  a  contract  for  it  had  I 
conceived  such  contract  prudent.  I  tell  him  that  I  shall 
lose  by  the  contract  for  flour,  but  that  nevertheless  it  shall 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  239 

be  executed.  Ask  him  how  he  stands  as  to  his  loan  in 
Holland.  He  says  he  has  some  propositions.  I  tell  him 
that  I  shall  make  him  some  which  will  be  agreeable,  per 
haps,  and  then  go  into  the  salon,  that  he  may  read  a  long 
piece  of  writing  just  put  into  his  hands.  Madame  de 
Stael  comes  in,  who  reproaches  me  for  forsaking  her  ;  I 
apologize,  and  promise  to  sup  next  Wednesday.  We  have 
a  good  deal  of  random  conversation.  Dine,  and  after  din 
ner  tell  M.  Necker  that  a  person  from  London  gives  me 
information  respecting  the  debt  which,  added  to  other 
things,  will  enable  me  to  make  him  a  good  offer  when  he 
has  finished  with  other  people.  He  says  we  will  talk 
about  it  in  his  cabinet  when  I  go  away.  We  retire  thith 
er,  and  then  I  offer  him  as  much  of  capital  in  their  rentes 
perpetudles  as  will  make  the  interest  of  i,6oo,ooof.  now 
payable  by  the  United  States.  He  thinks  the  proposition 
a  good  one,  but  says  he  must  have  half  money.  I  tell 
him  no,  that  is  too  much  ;  he  says  the  sacrifice  of  the  in 
terest  is  too  great,  and  will  expose  the  bargain  to  severe 
criticism.  He  seems  to  think  that  the  report  of  Moustier 
is  not  of  sufficient  weight  to  prevent  the  prosecution  of 
his  plan  in  Holland.  We  finally  part,  he  saying  we  must 
wait." 

"To-day  [December  ist]  I  prepare  a  note  to  make  M. 
Necker  an  offer  for  the  debt,  which  I  think  he  cannot  re 
fuse.  Dine  with  M.  Boutin  ;*  pretty  large  company  and  a 
very  good  dinner — ires  recherche".  I  have  a  good  deal  of  con 
versation  with  the  Comte  de  Moustier.  He  is  preparing 

*  M.  Boutin,  who  had  filled  the  offices  of  Collector  General  of  the  Revenue, 
Councillor  of  State,  and  Paymaster  of  the  Navy,  had  made,  at  an  enormous 
expense,  a  garden,  which  he  called  "  Tivoli,"  but  for  which  the  popular 
appellation  was  La  Folie-Boutin.  It  was  a  ravishing  garden,  with  surprises 
in  the  way  of  grottoes,  shrubbery,  and  statues  at  every  turn,  and  a  pavilion 
furnished  with  princely  luxury.  In  this  bewildering  place  M.  Boutin  gave 
suppers  no  less  sumptuous  than  the  surroundings. 


240  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

a  letter  about  the  American  debt,  and  shows  me  the  heads 
of  it.  I  tell  him  my  plan,  though  not  in  detail,  and  he  likes 
it  because  it  tends  to  defeat  the  views  of  M.  Duer  and  his 
associates,  Claviere  and  Warville.  I  hear  that  Mr.  Short 
is  much  pleased  that  I  have  determined  to  propose  a  plan, 
and  will  call  on  me  to-morrow.  The  Marquis  de  Lafa 
yette  has  spoken  to  Necker,  and  the  latter  has  promised  not 
to  conclude  any  agreement  without  a  previous  communi 
cation  to  Mr.  Short.  Arrive  very  late  at  the  Louvre. 
Communicate  to  the  Bishop  my  plan  for  the  debt,  which 
I  tell  him  I  will  show  him,  and  which,  if  refused  by  M. 
Necker,  may  probably  come  before  the  Assembly.  On 
Thursday  evening  we  are  to  meet  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's, 
to  consider  the  discourse  he  will  pronounce  on  Friday 
morning." 

"This  morning  [December  2d]  Mr.  Short  calls  and  I 
show  him  the  proposition  I  mean  to  make  to  M.  Necker. 
He  is  much  pleased  with  it.  I  tell  him  that  if  he  approves 
of  it  I  wish  he  would  undertake  to  recommend  it  to  the 
United  States,  as  he  must  see  that  it  will  promote  their 
interest.  He  tells  me  that  his  recommendation  can  have 
but  little  weight,  as  I  must  know,  but  that,  if  necessary, 
he  will  urge  the  adoption  of  it  here.  He  presses  me  to 
make  the  proposition  immediately.  I  tell  him  that  I 
mean  to  show  it  to  Lafayette,  and  for  that  purpose  to  dine 
with  him.  He  likes  this.  He  sets  me  down  at  Lafa 
yette's,  who  arrives  sooner  than  usual  from  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  and  has  but  little  company.  I  communicate  my 
plan,  which  he  also  is  pleased  with.  I  then  tell  him 
something  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun's  plan.  He  tells  me 
that  the  Bishop  is  to  call  upon  him  Friday  evening.  He 
says  that  Necker  must  be  kept  for  the  sake  of  his  name." 

"  Have  much  conversation  to-day  [December  3d]  with 
various  persons  on  speculations  they  propose  in  the  debt. 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  241 

Dine  at  the  Palais  Royal  at  a  restaurateur's.  Dr.  Senf  tells 
me  that  the  affairs  of  Brabant  are  going  on  well,  that  the 
other  Imperial  provinces  will  soon  join,  that  a  declaration 
of  independence  will  be  the  immediate  consequence,  and 
that  a  treaty  with  England  and  Prussia  will  speedily  fol 
low.  This  I  believe,  because  it  is  probable.  Take  Ma 
dame  de  Flahaut  to  the  Comedie  Frangaise.  Return  to 
the  Louvre.  The  Bishop  comes  in,  according  to  agree 
ment.  He  asks  my  opinion  whether  or  not  to  speak  to 
morrow  in  the  Assemblee,  and  tells  me  the  substance  of 
what  he  means  to  say.  I  make  some  observations  on  the 
heads  of  his  discourse.  Advise  him  to  speak,  but  confine 
himself  as  much  as  possible  to  the  line  of  objections ; 
add  some  reasons  to  be  given  to  the  Assemblee  for  not  pro 
posing  a  plan.  Urge  him  to  treat  the  Caisse  d'Escompte 
with  great  tenderness;  to  blame  the  administrators  as 
such  for  their  imprudence  in  lending  the  Government 
more  than  their  capital,  but  excuse  them  at  the  same  time 
as  citizens  for  their  patriotism  ;  treat  the  arrearage  to  them 
beyond  the  first  loan  of  70,000,000  f.  as  a  sacred  debt,  de 
manding  preference  of  all  others  ;  criticise  M.  Necker's 
plan  very  lightly  if  it  is  like  to  fall,  but  if  he  thinks  it  will 
be  adopted,  very  severely  ;  to  deal  much  in  predictions  as 
to  the  fatal  effects  of  paper  money,  the  agiotage  (stock-job 
bing)  which  must  ensue,  and  the  prostration  of  morals 
arising  from  that  cause ;  finally,  the  danger  which  must 
follow  to  the  public,  and  the  advantage  to  a  future  admin 
istrator  who  shall  think  proper  to  speculate  in  the  paper 
or  funds  ;  that  these  observations  become  him  as  a  clergy 
man  and  as  a  statesman,  and  they  will  be  the  more  proper 
as  his  enemies  charge  him  with  sinister  designs  of  this 
sort.  He  goes  away  to  consider,  as  he  says,  whether  he 
shall  say  anything.  I  urge  again  that,  when  he  comes  into 
the  ministry,  he  will  want  the  Caisse  d'Escompte,  and  tell 
16 


242  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

him  at  the  same  time  to  remove  from  the  mind  of  Lafayette 
the  idea  that  he  is  connected  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans." 

"  Go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's  [December  4th]  and  meet,  ac 
cording  to  appointment,  the  Comte  de  Moustier  and  Ma 
dame  de  Brehan.  Show  him  my  proposition  intended  for  M. 
Necker.  He  seems  not  fully  to  approve.  I  rather  think  that 
he  withholds  assent  because  he  thinks  it  like  to  be  very  suc 
cessful,  but  I  may  be  deceived.  At  going  away  the  Comte 
de  Montmorin  asks  why  I  depart  so  soon.  I  tell  him  that 
I  am  going  to  M.  Necker's,  etc.  ;  that  if  he  chooses  I  will 
communicate  to  him  my  proposition,  not  as  a  minister  but 
as  a  friend.  He  asks  to  see  it,  examines  it  with  attention, 
requires  explanations,  and  finally  approves  it  much,  and 
offers  to  speak  to  M.  Necker  on  the  subject.  I  desire  him 
not,  lest  M.  Necker  should  think  I  have  been  deficient  in 
respect.  Go  to  M.  Necker's  ;  he  is  gone  to  council.  Con 
verse  with  Madame  in  such  a  way  as  to  please  her.  She 
asks  me  to  dine  to-morrow.  I  mention  my  prior  engage 
ment,  but  say  I  will  come  after  dinner,  as  I  wish  to  see  M. 
Necker.  She  tells  me  I  had  better  corne  to  dinner.  I 
will  if  I  can.  Go  to  the  opera.  After  a  while  the  Comte 
de  Luxembourg  comes  into  the  loge.  He  has  something 
to  say  of  politics.  I  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  home. 
The  Comte  de  Luxembourg  comes  in  ;  he  takes  her  aside 
and  has  a  conversation,  the  purport  whereof  is  to  offer  to 
the  Bishop  the  support  of  the  aristocratic  faction.  I  doubt 
much  his  being  authorized  to  make  this  offer.  Leave  them 
together,  and  go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs.  Music  here.  She 
sings  and  does  everything  to  impress  the  heart  of  the 
Comte  de  Segur.  Her  lover,  De  Narbonne,  is  returned. 
Segur  assures  me  of  his  fidelity  to  his  wife.  I  join  heart 
ily  in  praise  of  her,  and  truly  assure  him  that  I  love  her  as 
much  for  her  children  as  for  her  own  sake,  and  she  is  cer 
tainly  a  very  lovely  woman.  After  supper  De  Narbonne 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  243 

tells  us  that  he  is  authorized  by  Franche  Comte  to  accuse 
the  Comitt  des  Recherches.  This  committee  is  very  like 
what  was  called  in  the  State  of  New  York  the  Tory  Com 
mittee,  of  which  Duer  was  a  leading  memb.er,  a  committee 
for  detecting  and  defeating  all  conspiracies,  etc.  Thus  it 
is  that  mankind  in  similar  situations  always  adopt  a  corre 
spondent  conduct.  I  had  some  conversation  before  sup 
per  with  the  Comte  de  Segur,  who  disapproves  of  the 
Bishop's  oration,  and  so,  indeed,  do  most  others.  And 
they  blame  particularly  those  things  which  I  had  advised 
him  to  alter.  He  has  something  of  the  author  about  him. 
But  the  tender  attachment  to  our  literary  productions  is 
by  no  means  suitable  to  a  minister  :  to  sacrifice  great  ob 
jects  for  the  sake  of  small  ones  is  an  inverse  ratio  of  moral 
proportion.  Leave  Madame  de  StaeTs  early.  Set  down 
M.  de  Bonnet,  who  tells  me  that  I  am  to  succeed  Mr. 
Jefferson.  I  tell  him  that  if  the  place  is  offered  it  will  be 
difficult  for  me  not  to  accept,  but  that  I  wish  it  may  not 
be  offered." 

"  This  morning  [December  5th],  Mr.  Parker  calls  and 
tells  me  that  Necker  will  treat  upon  the  terms  I  am  to 
propose.  He  says  that  he  is  convinced,  from  the  conver 
sation  he  has  had  with  Ternant,  that  Necker  would  not 
have  been  permitted  to  deal  for  the  debt  under  par,  and 
that  therefore  no  agreement  could  have  taken  effect  un 
less  concluded  privately.  Go  to  Madame  Necker's  to 
dine.  Madame  de  Stael  comes  in,  and  at  the  instigation 
of  her  husband  asks  me  to  dine  next  Wednesday.  At 
dinner  we  converse  pretty  freely  of  political  subjects  and, 
in  consequence  of  an  observation  I  make,  Necker  exclaims 
in  English,  '  Ridiculous  nation  ! '  He  does  not  know  that 
my  servant  understands  English.  After  dinner  in  the 
salon  I  take  him  aside,  to  ask  if  he  has  considered  my 
proposition.  He  tells  me  that  a  Colonel  Ternant  has  a 


244  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

plan.  I  tell  him  that  the  one  I  now  give  is  the  same,  that 
my  last  proposition  was  the  utmost  that  the  houses  here 
would  agree  to,  and  therefore  what  I  now  offer  is  without 
their  participation.  He  asks  if  we  are  prepared  to  lay 
down  the  French  effets.  I  tell  him  no.  He  says  he  can 
not  listen  to  propositions  which  give  him  no  solid  secu 
rity.  I  reply  that  no  house  in  Europe  is  sufficient  for  so 
large  a  sum,  and  therefore  security  as  such  is  nonsense, 
but  that  he  shall  run  no  risk,  for  he  shall  not  part  with 
the  effets  till  he  receives  payment.  He  objects  that  he 
will  still  have  no  certainty  of  the  payment,  and  wants  to 
know  how  I  shall  make  the  operation.  I  tell  him  that  it 
is  by  means  of  our  connections  in  America  and  in  Hol 
land,  that  we  can  do  the  business  better  than  he  can,  and 
therefore  we  can  give  him  better  terms  than  he  can  ob 
tain  from  others.  He  insists  that  the  proposition  shall  be 
supported  by  solid  security  before  he  will  consider  it  ;  I 
tell  him  that  this  is  not  just,  that  there  are  two  points  for 
his  consideration  :  First,  whether  the  offer  is  good,  and, 
secondly,  whether  he  is  sufficiently  secured  ;  that  if  the 
offer  is  not  good,  it  is  useless  to  talk  of  security,  but  if  it 
be  such  as  he  ought  to  accept,  then  it  will  be  proper  to 
know  what  kind  of  responsibility  will  be  sufficient.  In 
the  meantime  it  would  render  me  ridiculous  to  ask  secu 
rity  for  performance  of  a  bargain  not  made.  To  this  he 
replies  that  if  I  once  get  his  promise  I  shall  make  use  of 
it  as  a  ground  to  negotiate  upon  and  go  about  knocking 
at  the  doors  of  different  people.  This  is  not  a  very  deli 
cate  comparison.  I  reply  in  a  tone  of  dissatisfaction, 
mingled  perhaps  with  a  little  pride,  that  I  shall  knock  at 
no  doors  but  such  as  are  already  open  to  me.  Our  con 
versation  is  loud,  he  makes  it  so  purposely,  and  at  this 
point  Madame  de  Stael,  with  the  good-natured  intention 
of  avoiding  ill-humor,  desires  me  to  send  her  father  to  sit 


1789-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  245 

next  to  her.  I  tell  her,  smiling,  that  it  is  a  dangerous 
task  to  send  away  M.  Necker,  and  those  who  tried  it  once 
had  sufficient  cause  to  repent  it.  This  latter  observation 
brings  back  good-humor,  and  he  seems  inclined  to  talk 
further  with  me,  but  I  take  no  further  notice  of  him,  and, 
after  chatting  a  little  with  different  people,  I  take  leave. 
Go  to  Parker's  and  tell  him  what  has  passed,  which  of 
course  disappoints  him  not  a  little.  We  consider  of  what 
is  next  to  be  done,  and,  after  canvassing  the  matter  a  good 
deal,  agree  that  we  will  sleep  upon  it,  and  give  him  time 
to  cool." 

"  This  morning  [December  6th]  Mr.  Parker  comes  and 
tells  me  that  Colonel  Ternant  says  Necker  shall  be 
forced  to  accept  the  proposition.  He  will  meet  me  this 
day  at  the  Comte  de  Montmorin's  at  dinner.  Go  to  Ma 
dame  de  Flahaut's.  We  converse  on  affairs  ;  the  Bishop  re 
grets  much  that  he  did  not  follow  my  advice.  She  cen 
sured  severely  last  night  his  advisers,  in  the  presence  of 
M.  de  Suzeval,  who  is  one  of  the  principal  ones.  He  ac 
knowledged  that  he  had  done  wrong,  and  regretted  his 
weakness.  The  Comte  de  Luxembourg,  who  was  to  have 
been  of  her  party  for  dinner,  sends  an  apology,  and  we 
then  agree  that  I  shall  stay  and  dine  in  order  to  converse 
with  the  Bishop  about  Laborde's  plan  of  finance.  The 
Bishop  arrives,  and  tells  me  what  has  passed  on  the  sub 
ject.  It  appears  that  M.  Laborde  has  behaved  with  mean 
ness  and  treachery.  The  plan  is  Panchaut's.  It  was  de 
livered  to  Laborde  by  the  Bishop  to  consider  of  the 
practicability  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  and  with  a 
declaration  that  he  desired  to  obtain  by  that  means  a  pro 
vision  for  Panchauts  family,  who  are  indigent.  After 
many  conferences,  Laborde  declared  that  the  two  hundred 
millions  required  could  not  be  obtained.  In  consequence 
the  Bishop  made  the  declarations  contained  in  his  speech, 


246  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

and  M.  Laborde  came  forward  the  next  day  with  his  plan, 
which  requires  three  hundred  millions,  and  criticised  what 
had  been  said  by  his  friend.  The  plan  seems  to  be  very 
much  like  what  I  had  thought  of,  and  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut,  to  whom  I  had  given  this  morning  a  few  outlines  of 
my  scheme,  was  astonished  at  the  resemblance  or,  rather, 
at  the  identity.  Consider  some  notes,  etc.,  which  the 
Bishop  is  about  to  add  to  his  speech  now  in  press.  I 
then  communicate  to  him  my  plan  for  the  American  debt. 
But  first  I  ask  whether  a  caisse  d'escompte  will  be 
established,  and  whether  the  American  debt  will  be  trans 
ferred  to  it  as  a  part  of  the  fund.  He  tells  me  that  he  thinks 
both  will  be  done.  I  tell  him  that  I  wish  they  may,  and  then 
state  to  him  M.  Necker's  conversation  with  me,  and  remark 
on  the  folly  of  asking  from  an  individual  adequate  secu 
rity  to  the  amount  of  forty  millions.  He  agrees  with  me 
entirely,  and  I  think  that  M.  Necker  will  sooner  or  later 
have  reason  to  regret  that  he  treated  my  offer  with  so 
much  contempt.  Immediately  after  dinner  I  go  to  M.  de 
Montmorin's.  He  is  engaged  in  conversation  with  a  gen 
tleman  who  detains  him  until  he  is  obliged  to  retire  to  his 
bureau.  Go  and  sit  with  Madame  de  Corney  some  time, 
and  explain  the  nature  of  my  agreement  for  flour,  as  I 
find  that  De  Corney  had  been  informed  of  a  contract  I  had 
made  with  the  city  and  which  does  not  exist.  He  might 
have  supposed  that  I  did  not  deal  candidly  with  him.  Go 
hence  to  Madame  Dumolley's.  Some  political  conversa 
tion,  with  a  degree  of  heat  that  is  inconceivable  among  so 
polite  a  people.  Thence  to  the  Louvre,  where  I  stay  till 
near  twelve.  A  large  company.  I  tell  the  Bishop  what 
has  passed  with  De  Cantaleu,  for  which  he  is  much  obliged 
to  me." 

"To-day  [December  8th],  while  I  am  calling  on  M.  de 
Montmorin,  who  is  trying  to  discover  Necker's  reasons 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  247 

against  the  proposition,  De  Moustier  comes  in.  He  says 
that  he  has  just  delivered  a  letter  to  the  porter  on  the  sub 
ject  of  the  American  debt ;  that  all  negotiation  upon  it 
must  be  deferred.  I  think  he  has  endeavored  to  throw 
cold  water  on  my  plan.  Tell  Colonel  Ternant  so,  who  says 
that  he  should  equally  oppose  it  in  any  other  circum 
stances,  but  that  the  distresses  of  France  form  a  sufficient 
reason  now  for  the  adoption." 

"  On  Wednesday  at  three  I  dine  with  Madame  de  Stae'l. 
After  dinner  M.  Clermont-Tonnerre  reads  us  a  discourse 
he  intends  to  deliver  in  the  Assemblee.  It  is  very  elo 
quent  and  much  admired.  I  make,  however,  one  or  two 
observations  on  the  reasoning,  which  bring  the  company 
to  an  opinion  adverse  to  his.  He  goes  away  mortified, 
and  thus  I  think  I  have  made  an  enemy.  We  shall  see. 
Go  to  the  Carrousel,  and  stay  till  twelve.  The  company  is 
large  and  I  employ  the  time  in  reading.  The  Comte  de 
Luxembourg  tells  me  that  some  persons  meditate  a  mas 
sacre  of  the  King,  Queen,  and  Nobles.  I  tell  him  that  I 
do  not  believe  it." 

"To-day  [December  i2th],  dine  with  the  Duchess  at  the 
Palais  Royal.  Afterwards  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  to 
the  opera — *  Didon,'  with  the  '  Chercheuse  d'esprit,'  a  ballet. 
These  form  anything  except  rational  amusement.  M. 
Necker's  chief  clerk,  who  was  the  other  day  at  M.  de  Mont- 
morin's,  assured  M.  de  Montmorin  that  he  thought  my 
proposal  for  the  debt  such  as  the  minister  ought  to  adopt. 
A  small  company  at  the  Louvre  ;  we  sup,  and  I  leave  them 
together  at  play.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  says  the  committee 
have  been  engaged  all  this  evening  with  M.  Necker  in 
considering  how  one  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  paper 
can  be  issued  with  the  least  inconveniency.  The  affairs 
are  in  a  sad  condition  indeed,  and  I  think  they  will  not 
mend  speedily." 


248  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XI. 

"  After  dinner  to-day  [December  i3th],  go  to  the  Lou 
vre  and  find  my  amiable  friend  in  tears.  She  has  been  to 
see  her  religieuse,  who  is  ill  and  suffering  from  a  scorbutic 
complaint,  and  suffering  from  the  neglect  of  her  sister 
nuns  also.  She  reproaches  herself  with  not  having  been 
to  pay  her  a  visit  for  several  days,  by  which  means  she 
was  ignorant  of  her  situation.  She  has  given  orders  for  a 
better  treatment.  I  administer  all  the  consolation  in  my 
power,  and  that  consists  first  in  sympathy,  which  is  very 
sincere  ;  then  in  attenuating  the  evil.  I  then  take  her  to 
the  opera,  and  leave  her  there." 

"At  Madame  de  Chastellux's  to-day  [December  i4th], 
we  have  a  large  breakfast  party,  and  the  Abbe  Delille 
reads  or  rather  repeats  to  us  some  of  his  verses,  which  are 
fine  and  well  delivered.  Go  to  the  Louvre.  The  Bishop 
is  there  ;  he  mentions  a  plan  for  issuing  billets  d1  Etat  bear 
ing  interest.  I  show  him  the  folly  of  such  a  measure. 
He  says  it  is  a  plan  of  Montesquiou's,  to  which  I  reply 
that,  as  none  of  the  plans  likely  to  be  adopted  are  good 
they  may  as  well  take  that  of  M.  Necker,  since  otherwise 
they  enable  his  friends  to  say  that  the  mischief  arises  from 
not  having  followed  his  advice ;  that,  besides,  if  paper 
money  be  issued,  that  of  the  Caisse  is  quite  as  good  as 
any  other.  He  says  that  by  taking  a  bad  step  France 
may  be  ruined.  I  tell  him  that  is  impossible,  and  he  may 
tranquillize  himself  about  it  ;  that  whenever  they  resort  to 
taxation  credit  will  be  restored,  and,  the  credit  once  re 
stored,  it  will  be  easy  to  put  the  affairs  of  the  Caisse  in 
order.  Go  to  the  Palais  Royal,  not  having  been  able  to 
leave  Madame  de  Flahaut  till  four.  I  arrive  when  dinner 
is  half  over.  After  dinner  the  Abbe  Delille  entertains 
us  with  some  further  repetitions.  Go  to  club,  and  thence 
to  the  Comte  de  Moustier's.  Sit  a  while  with  him,  and  Ma 
dame  de  Brehan.  Go  together  to  Madame  de  Puisignieu's. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  249 

Spend  the  evening.  Conversation  chiefly  with  De  Mous- 
tier.  I  find  that,  notwithstanding  public  professions  as 
to  the  public  proceedings  of  America,  both  De  Moustier 
and  Madame  de  Brehan  have  a  thorough  dislike  to  the 
country  and  its  inhabitants.  The  society  of  New  York  is 
not  sociable,  the  provisions  of  America  are  not  good,  the 
climate  is  very  damp,  the  wines  are  abominable,  the  peo 
ple  are  excessively  indolent." 


250  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XII. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  opera.  Gardell  and  Vestris.  Strictures  on  the  character  of  the  peo 
ple  of  France.  The  Caisse  Patriotique  opened.  Paris  gay  with  uni 
forms.  People  sacrifice  their  jewels  for  the  public  benefit.  Morris 
disapproves  of  Necker's  plan  of  finance.  Resolutions  passed  in  the 
Assembly  which  affect  Protestants.  The  public  debt.  The  king's 
brother  goes  to  the  Commons.  Monsieur  and  the  Favras  conspiracy. 
Lafayette  intriguing  deeply.  Morris  makes  punch  for  the  society 
at  Madame  de  Vannoise's.  His  first  suggestion  of  settling  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Asked  for  information  about  America. 
Ceremony  of  saluting  the  ladies  with  a  kiss  on  New  Year's  eve. 

THE  opera  to-night  [December  i5th]  is  a  new  one, 
and  very  good.  I  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  en 
joy  it  with  me.  It  has  as  little  of  the  inevitable  evil  of  an 
opera  as  can  easily'be  supposed,  but  the  radical  vices  re 
main  ;  the  scenery  is  fine.  After  the  opera,  Gardell  and 
then  Vestris  exhibit  their  muscular  genius.  The  latter 
seems  almost  to  step  on  air.  It  is  a  prodigious  piece  of 
human  mechanism.  Take  M.  and  Madame  Robert  (the 
painter)  from  the  opera,  and  go  afterwards  to  the  Louvre. 
M.  St.  Priest  is  here.  We  are  to  sup  trio.  The  Vicomte 
de  St.  Priest  comes  in — a  coxcomb,  and,  what  is  worse,  an 
old  one.  The  conversation  is  dull." 

"To-day  [December  i6th]  I  hear  that  the  Comte  de 
Montmorin  says  M.  Necker  is  ready  to  accept  my  pro 
posal  as  soon  as  a  solid  house  in  Europe  will  come  for 
ward  with  the  offer  ;  that  the  plan  I  have  offered  suits 
(as  M.  de  Montmorin  says)  this  government  exactly,  and 
must  be  very  well  if  it  suits  the  United  States  as  well.  At 
Madame  de  Laborde's  I  am  introduced  to  Madame  d'Houde- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2$  I 

tot,  who  is  the  protectrice  of  Crevecceur,  who  is  much 
courted  by  the  academicians,  who  was  the  only  beloved 
of  Rousseau,  who  had  at  the  same  time  another  lover,  a 
happy  one,  and  who  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  ugliest  women 
I  ever  saw,  even  without  her  squint,  which  is  of  the  worst 
kind. 

"  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  to-night  that  Montesquieu 
will  propose  to-morrow  a  plan  of  finance,  which  consists 
in  issuing  a  large  sum  of  billets  d' Etat  bearing  interest ; 
but  if  the  report  of  the  committee  to  be  made  by  Le  Can- 
taleu  is  adopted  by  acclamation,  Montesquiou  will  be 
silent.  He  and  the  Bishop  were  with  her  this  evening 
and  they  discussed  the  matter  together.  She  asks  my 
opinion.  I  tell  her  it  is  good  for  nothing,  and  give  one  or 
two  reasons.  I  add  that  the  more  reasonable  their  plan, 
the  more  unreasonable  is  their  conduct  in  offering  it. 
But  the  character  of  this  country  is  precipitation,  not 
to  mention  the  vaulting  ambition  which  o'erleaps  itself. 
There  is,  besides,  a  spur  to  prick  the  sides  of  their  intent 
with  all  the  sharpness  of  necessity,  for  both  these  gentle 
men  are  not  a  little  out  at  elbows.  The  Marquis  de  Mon 
tesquiou  comes  in.  He  tells  me  the  plan  of  finance  re 
ported  by  the  committee  and  that  which  he  means  to  move 
in  substitution.  The  first  is  complicated,  and  it  would 
seem  that  the  farmers  have,  by  bewildering,  convinced 
themselves.  The  second  is  simple,  but  liable  to  a  little  ob 
jection  which  the  author  had  overlooked  ;  I  state  it.  He 
endeavors  to  obviate  it ;  in  effect,  he  feels  attached  to  his 
plan,  which  is  natural,  but  if  adopted,  I  think  it  will  work 
evil  to  him  as  well  as  to  the  country,  for  the  paper  money 
must  depreciate.  He  asks  whether,  in  my  opinion,  the 
paper  proposed  by  the  committee  will  sustain  its  value.  I 
tell  him  no,  but  that  he  had  better  let  the  plan  of  his  op 
ponents  do  the  mischief.  He  seems  to  be  convinced 


252  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XII. 

against  his  will,  and  therefore,  according  to  '  Hudibras,'  is, 
I  presume,  of  the  same  opinion  still." 

On  the  1 7th  of  December  the  report  of  the  ten  com 
missioners  was  presented  to  the  Assembly.  On  the  ipth, 
Morris  says  :  "  The  Bishop  just  come  from  the  Assem- 
blee  ;  says  they  have  passed  tumultuously  the  plan  of 
the  committee  grounded  on  the  plan  of  M.  Necker.  He 
seems  much  dissatisfied  with  it."  Necker's  plan  adopted, 
the  Caisse  Patriotique  was  opened,  and  into  it  flowed 
every  imaginable  thing,  of  great  or  small  value — precious 
stones,  articles  of  jewellery,  "mouches"  boxes,  some  time 
since  abandoned  by  the  ladies.  Great  ladies  sacrificed  their 
jewels,  and  adorned  themselves  with  ribbons  instead. 
Madame  de  Genlis  and  Madame  de  Bulard,  to  give  em 
phasis  to  their  patriotic  feelings,  wore  pieces  of  the  stone 
of  the  Bastille  set  in  laurel  leaves,  pinned  on  with  a  forest 
of  ribbons  of  the  three  colors.  The  king  and  queen  con 
tributed  their  share,  in  gold  plates  and  dishes  of  great 
value.  A  spasm  of  generosity  possessed  all  ranks,  and 
rivalled  the  soldier  fever,  which  for  months  had  been 
strong,  and  had  filled  the  streets  of  Paris  with  the  most 
fantastic  costumes  imaginable,  of  which  red,  green,  and 
gold  epaulets  were  a  brilliant  feature.  Each  district  had 
its  distinctive  color  and  mode,  but  all  united  in  car 
rying  the  tricolor,  in  the  manufacture  of  which  all  the 
available  material  in  Paris  seems  to  have  been  sacrificed. 
During  the  last  month  of  1789  a  loan  of  eighty  millions 
was  made  to  the  Caisse  d'Escompte.  As  to  the  new  plan, 
the  diary  says  : 

"At  Madame  de  Segur's  this  morning  [December  2oth] 
her  brother,  M.  d'Aguesseau  asked  my  opinion  of  the  new 
plan  of  finance.  I  gave  it  very  candidly,  but  find  from 
Madame  Chastellux  this  evening  that  it  made  a  very  som 
bre  impression  upon  his  mind.  M.  de  Montmorin  tells 


J789.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  253 

me  that  M.  Necker  is  pleased  with  my  proposition,  and 
willing  to  treat  with  me,  provided  I  can  show  that  I  am  au 
thorized  by  persons  of  sufficient  property  in  Europe  to 
create  a  due  responsibility.  I  communicate  to  him  what 
passed  with  M.  Necker,  and,  if  I  can  judge  rightly  of  this 
conversation,  the  Count  at  least  (and  probably  M.  Necker) 
is  desirous  of  bringing  this  business  to  a  conclusion.  He 
asks  me  if  he  may  speak  to  M.  Necker  about  it.  I  tell 
him  yes,  and  that  I  will  take  an  opportunity  one  day  to 
call  at  M.  Necker's  coffee,  and  converse  with  him  if  he 
chooses." 

"The  Assemblee  passed  to-day  [December  24th]  a  reso 
lution  which  gives  the  Protestants  admission  (by  neces 
sary  implication)  to  the  offices  of  state.  The  Bishop  is 
much  pleased  with  it,  but  said  nothing  in  its  support.  I 
advise  him  to  have  his  conduct  remarked  in  some  of  the 
journals,  because  that  his  order  is  already  against  him, 
and  therefore  he  must  secure  the  interest  of  those  who  are 
against  his  order." 

"  M.  de  Moustier  tells  me  to-day  [December  25th]  that 
some  persons  were  arrested  last  night  in  consequence  of  a 
plot  formed  to  assassinate  M.  de  Lafayette,  M.  Bailly,  and 
M.  Necker,  and  to  carry  the  King  off  into  Picardy.  I  don't 
believe  a  word  of  the  plot.  It  will,  however,  serve  a  certain 
purpose  to  the  inventors.  Moustier  tells  me  further  that 
Necker  is  prepared  to  accept  my  offer,  and  vaunts  much 
his  services  in  the  business,  all  which  I  know  how  to  esti 
mate  at  the  just  value.  The  conversation  at  Madame  de 
Chastellux's  this  Christmas  evening  is  sensible,  but  not  mar- 
quante.  The  Comtesse  de  Segur  tells  me  that  M.  du 
Fresne,  who  is  M.  Necker's  right-hand  man,  says  that  his 
chief  is  not  equal  to  his  business.  The  Duchess  comes  in, 
and  Mr.  Short.  I  tell  him  of  Moustier's  eagerness  to  show 
his  utility  to  America,  and  add  that  certainly  if  the  plan 


254  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XII. 

takes  effect  it  must  be  attributed  to  him,  Parker,  and  myself. 
Go  to  Madame  de  Guibert's  to  supper.  After  supper  a 
question  is  agitated  respecting  the  Dauphin,  father  to 
Louis  Seize  and  the  Due  de  Choiseul,  which  leads  to  the 
subject  of  poisons.  M.  de  Laborde  mentions  a  very  ex 
traordinary  kind  of  poison  as  being  notorious,  and  de 
tailed  in  the  dictionary  of  medicines.  It  consists  in  fat 
tening  a  hog  with  portions  of  arsenic,  and  then  distilling 
his  flesh,  which  gives  a  poisonous  water  of  slow  but  sure 
effect.  He  appeals,  then,  to  the  Count  de  Thiare  for  the 
truth  of  this  extraordinary  fact.  A  lady  at  court  asked 
for  a  glass  of  water.  It  was  brought,  and  she  drank  it. 
Immediately  she  burst  into  tears,  declaring  that  she  was 
poisoned,  and  told  the  King,  '  It  is  that  villain/  point 
ing  to  one  of  his  attendants,  'who  has  done  it.'  The 
King  rallied  her  on  the  subject,  but  she  went  away  greatly 
distressed,  and  died  in  about  eight  days.  The  person  she 
had  designated  asked  leave,  in  the  interim,  to  go  and  look 
after  his  affairs  in  Savoie,  went  off,  and  was  never  heard 
of.  We  afterwards  get  upon  finance,  and  M.  de  Guibert, 
who  loves  to  hear  himself  talk,  says  a  good  deal  to  prove 
that  he  knows  but  little.  He  is,  however,  a  violent  Neck- 
erist.  I  leave  this  house  before  twelve,  being  not  very 
well.  It  has  been  a  fine  day,  but  Paris,  on  this  great  fes 
tival  of  the  nativity,  shows  how  much  she  has  fallen  by 
the  revolution.  The  paper  of  the  Caisse  keeps  going 
down,  and  is  now  at  two  per  cent,  discount.  The  actions 
also  fall  fast,  which  is  very  natural." 

"A  member  of  the  Committee  of  Finance  mentions  at  the 
club  to-day  [December  26th]  that  the  totality  of  the  public 
debt  here  is  about  4,700,000,000!,  including  herein  all  re 
imbursements  of  charges  of  every  kind,  and  calculating 
the  viaglres  [life  annuities]  at  ten  years'  purchase  ;  that  it 
may  amount,  perhaps,  to  4,800,000,0001.,  that  is,  to  200,000,- 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  255 

ooo  pounds  sterling.  This,  then,  is  the  extreme  of  a  burthen 
which  this  kingdom  totters  under.  The  Abbe  d'Espagnac 
insists  that  it  is  not  so  much  by  a  great  deal.  While  the  dis 
pute  on  this  subject  is  at  its  height,  a  gentleman  arrives 
who  communicates  the  extraordinary  intelligence  that 
Monsieur,  the  King's  brother,  has  been  to  the  Commons 
and  made  a  speech  on  the  subject  of  a  charge  circulated 
against  him  yesterday,  that  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  sup 
posed  plot  against  M.  Bailly  and  M.  de  Lafayette.  Go  to 
Madame  de  Chastellux's.  While  there  the  Chevalier  de 
Graave  brings  us  Monsieur's  speech.  It  is  very  well  writ 
ten,  but  has  the  fault  of  calling  himself  a  citizen,  and, 
again,  his  audience  fellow-citizens.  Go  to  the  Louvre. 
Madame  tells  the  history  of  this  speech.  Monsieur  yes 
terday,  upon  hearing  of  the  slander,  applied  to  the  Due  de 
Livi,  who,  not  knowing  what  advice  to  give  him,  applied 
to  the  Bishop  d'Autun,  who  made  the  speech  for  him. 
This  morning  Monsieur  applied  to  the  King,  and  asked 
him  if  he  meant  to  send  another  of  his  brothers  out  of  the 
kingdom  ;  then  went  on  to  complain  of  the  slander.  This 
touches  Lafayette,  who  has  too  many  of  these  little  matters 
on  the  anvil.  It  was  then  determined  that  Monsieur  should 
go  to  the  Ville,  etc." 

"At  half-past  two  [December  27th]  visit  Madame  de 
Flahaut.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  is  there.  She  reads  me  a 
letter  he  has  written  to  the  author  of  the  Courrier  de 
r Europe  explaining  his  plan.  I  make  to  him  sundry  ob 
servations  concerning  it,  but  refuse  to  take  it  with  me  and 
make  notes.  After  he  is  gone  she  asks  me  not  to  men 
tion  to  Lafayette,  as  was  intended,  the  archiepiscopacy 
of  Paris  for  the  Bishop  d'Autun,  but  to  show  the  advan 
tages  which  may  be  derived  from  the  step  taken  by  Mon 
sieur.  Go  to  M.  de  Lafayette's.  After  dinner  I  speak 
to  Lafayette  about  Monsieur's  speech  to  the  Commons. 


256  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XII. 

He  takes  Short*  and  me  into  his  closet.  Tells  us  that  for 
a  long  time  he  has  had  information  of  a  plot  ;  that  he 
has  followed  the  track,  and  at  length  took  up  M.  de 
Favras  ;  that  on  M.  de  Favras  was  found  a  letter  from 
Monsieur  which  seemed  to  show  that  he  was  but  too  deep 
ly  concerned  in  it ;  that  he  had  immediately  waited  upon 
him  with  that  letter,  which  he  delivered,  telling  Monsieur 
that  it  was  known  only  to  him  and  M.  Bailly — consequent 
ly,  that  he  was  not  compromised  ;  that  Monsieur  was 
much  rejoiced  at  this  intelligence  ;  that  yesterday  morn 
ing,  however,  he  sent  for  him,  and,  being  surrounded  by 
his  courtiers,  spoke  in  high  terms  respecting  a  note  which 
had  been  circulated  the  evening  before  charging  him 
with  being  at  the  head  of  the  conspiracy.  Lafayette  told 
him  that  he  knew  of  but  one  way  to  discover  the  authors, 
which  was  by  offering  a  reward,  which  should  be  done  ; 
that  Monsieur  then  declared  his  determination  to  go  to 
the  town-house  in  the  afternoon,  and  that  in  consequence 
due  preparation  was  made  to  receive  him  when  he  should 
come  ;  that  he  came,  and  pronounced  the  speech  we  have 
seen,  which  was  written  by  Mirabeau,  whom  he  considers 
as  an  abandoned  rascal.  Every  man  is  dear  to  himself. 
All  the  world  knew  Mirabeau  to  be  a  rascal  when  Lafa 
yette  connected  himself  with  him  ;  but  it  is  in  this  moment 
only  that  he  feels  the  misery  of  such  a  connection.  I  re 
mind  him  of  the  warnings  I  had  given  with  respect  to 
Mirabeau,  and  add  the  intelligence  which  the  Comte  de 
Luxembourg  desired  me  to  convey  ;  viz.,  that  Mirabeau 
had  sworn  he  would  ruin  Lafayette.  I  then  tell  him  that 
this  step  of  Monsieur's  has  thrown  the  cards  into  his  hands  ; 
that  he  has  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  revolution, 
in  which  place  he  ought  to  be  kept,  because,  if  there 

*  William  Short,  charge  d'affaires  during  Jefferson's  official  residence  at 
Paris,  was  at  this  time  the  only  representative  of  the  United  States  in  Paris. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  257 

should  happen  any  counter-revolution,  he  secures  the  heads 
of  all  others  against  accidents,  and  if  the  revolution  is 
fully  effected,  the  nullity  of  his  character  will  of  course  se 
clude  him  from  all  weight  and  authority.  He  relishes 
this  idea.  I  then  take  the  opportunity  to  inculcate  upon 
his  mind  anew  the  advantage  of  an  administration  whose 
characters  are  fair,  which  appears  strongly  in  the  case  of 
M.  Necker,  to  whose  probity  everything  is  pardoned.  He 
feels  conviction,  but  it  will  not  last.  His  temper  is  turned 
towards  intrigue  and  must  unite  itself  to  them  of  similar 
disposition.  At  going  away  I  ask  him  if  he  sees  often  the 
gentleman  I  presented  to  him.  He  says  that  he  does  not. 
Mentions,  however,  his  name  (the  Bishop  d'Autun),  which 
I  did  not  intend,  and  tells  me  that  he  desired  to  have  given 
him  the  King's  library,  with  the  Abbe  de  Sieyes  *  under 
him,  as  a  step  toward  r Education  nationale,  which  is  the 
Bishop's  hobby-horse.  I  undertake  to  make  this  com 
munication  at  his  request.  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux. 
She  tells  me  that  Monsieur  is  not  much  applauded  in  so 
ciety,  that  is,  in  good  company.  I  am  not  at  all  surprised 
at  this.  Go  from  hence  to  Madame  de  Laborde's,  having 
first  written  a  little  extempore  address  to  the  Duchess  as 
from  Madame  de  Chastellux,  to  whom  she  had  presented 
a  small  clock  comme  dtrennes  : 

To  show  how  the  minutes  glide  swiftly  away, 

Dear  Princess,  a  present  you  send ; 
Oh  come,  by  your  presence  this  loss  to  repay, 

Oh  come  at  the  call  of  your  friend. 

Your  goodness  has  taught  me  those  moments  to  prize, 

Your  kindness  their  value  bestows, 
And  my  love,  like  the  bounty  which  beams  from  your  eyes, 

Each  moment  more  fervently  glows." 

*  Abbe  Sieyes,  a  central  figure  through  all  the  years  of  the  French  Revolu 
tion,  from  the  moment  of  writing,  in  1789,  the  brochure  entitled,  "  Qu'est-ce 
que  le  Tiers  Etat,"  until  ten  years  later  he  was  dismissed  and  placed  in  the 

'7 


258  DTARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XII. 

"  Dine  to-day  [December  30th]  with  the  Duchesse  d'Or- 
leans.  Take  tea  with  Madame  de  Chastellux  a'nd  then  go 
to  Madame  d'Houdetot's.  Her  lover,  M.  de  St.  Lambert, 
is  here.  Conversation  is  sensible  and  agreeable  enough, 
but  I  think  I  shall  not  go  often.  Of  all  Cupid's  maga 
zines  the  least  valuable,  in  my  opinion,  is  his  cabinet  of 
antiquities.  Have  a  conversation  with  M.  de  Montmorin 
and  chat  a  while  with  the  ladies,  and,  observing  some  al 
manacs  on  the  chimney-piece,  I  take  out  my  pencil  and 
address  a  few  lines  to  Madame  de  Beaumont,  his  daugh 
ter  : 

How  days  and  months  and  years  succeed, 

Clara,  you  here  behold  ; 
But  while  you  look  on  this,  take  heed, 

Both  you  and  I  grow  old. 

Those  days  which  come,  the  past  destroy, 

Do  not  too  long  delay  ; 
For  every  hour,  not  spent  in  joy, 

Is  so  much  thrown  away. 

She  is  more  pleased  with  this  than  she  expresses,  for  the 
moral  is  rather  to  be  adopted  than  approved.  Go  hence 
to  a  party  at  Madame  de  Vannoise's.  The  intention,  I  find, 
is  to  hear  the  harmonica  and  drink  punch.  I  am  requested 
to  mix  that  liquor  and,  in  order  that  my  glasses  may  pro 
duce  equal  music  with  those  of  the  performer,  I  make  it 
very  strong.  Madame  de  Laborde  comes  and  sits  next  to 
me,  with  M.  Bonnet.  I  repeat  to  her  the  lines  I  had  writ 
ten  for  Madame  de  Beaumont.  She,  of  course,  objects  to 
the  liberality  of  the  sentiment,  and  M.  Bonnet,  who  is  to 
judge  and  can  understand  English  only  by  the  eye,  though 

hands  of  Bonaparte.  The  constitution  he  drew  for  France  was  conceived 
with  a  view  of  transforming  the  popular  beliefs  and  principles  ;  beginning  a 
new  order  of  things,  not  working  to  perfect  the  old.  He  was  of  bourgeois 
birth. 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  259 

he  has  translated  'Tristram  Shandy,'  gives  me  his  pencil 
and  a  piece  of  paper.  I  address  to  her  a  demonstration 
of  my  theme  instead  of  copying  what  I  had  written  : 

You  find  my  morals  somewhat  free, 

But  why  enthral  the  mind  ? 
The  truest  doctrine,  trust  to  me, 

Is  nature  unconfined. 

What  she  commands  let  us  obey, 

Nor  strive  to  be  too  pure  ; 
All  human  maxims  lead  astray 

And  only  hers  are  sure. 

I  do  not  not  know  whether  this  is  exact,  but  it  is  con 
venient,  and  will,  I  know,  be  more  strictly  followed  by 
those  who  condemn  it  than  by  the  author.  A  reputation 
either  good  or  bad  as  to  morals  is  easily  acquired.  To 
judge  a  man  by  his  actions  requires  a  degree  of  attention 
which  few  have  a  right  to  expect,  and  few  are  willing  to 
pay.  It  is  much  more  convenient  to  judge  from  the  con 
versation  than  from  the  conduct. 

"  At  the  club  to-day  we  have  a  strange  story  of  a 
sentinel  stabbed,  and  the  instruments  left  behind  in 
scribed,  'Va-t'en  attendre  Fayette.'  I  profess,  as  usual, 
my  disbelief.  Go  to  the  Louvre.  The  Due  de  Biron, 
1'Eveque  d'Autun,  and  M.  de  St.  Foi,  who  dined  here, 
are  still  with  Madame,  who  is  dressing  to  go  to  the 
Comedie.  I  am  vexed  at  this.  The  Bishop  and  M.  de  St. 
Foi  retire  to  a  consultation,  which  is,  I  suppose,  about  his 
letter  to  the  Conrrier  de  r Europe  ;  when  that  is  finished,  I 
tell  the  Bishop  what  Lafayette  had  desired  me  to  com 
municate.  I  add  that  I  did  not  mention  the  archbishopric 
because  Madame  desired  me  not,  but  more  because,  not 
withstanding  the  fair  opportunity,  I  persisted  in  the  opin 
ion  transmitted  by  her,  for  which  I  had  not,  however,  given 


26O  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XII. 

to  her  the  reasons  ;  that  I  think  he  should  speak  first  him 
self,  because  he  is  of  too  elevated  a  rank  to  deal  by  an  in 
termediary  ;  if  he  were  of  an  inferior  grade,  I  would  ask 
for  him.  He  approves  of  this.  Madame  asks  me  to  go  to 
the  play,  which  I  refuse,  and  to  Madame  de  Laborde's, 
which  I  decline  ;  I  offer,  however,  to  set  her  down  at  the 
play-house,  which  she  accepts  of.  Go  to  Madame  de 
Chastellux's.  M.  de  Brabancon  comes  in,  to  whom  I 
communicate  an  idea  which  has  occurred  to  my  mind  of 
forming  a  settlement  upon  the  banks  of  the  River  St. 
Lawrence.  He  seems  pleased  with  it,  and  will  speak  to 
the  persons  of  his  acquaintance  who  want  to  go  out  to 
America." 

"  Goto  Madame  de  Laborde's  to  supper  [December  3  ist]. 
Madame  d'Houdetot  tells  me  that  she  dined  at  M.  Necker's. 
I  find  that  his  family  are  much  hurt  at  a  refusal  of  the 
Assemblee  to  accept  a  gift  proffered  from  Geneva,  which  is 
considered  as  a  slight  to  M.  Necker.  She  tells  me  that  the 
Abbe  Rayneval  has  addressed  an  excellent  letter  to  the 
Assemblee.  I  suppose  from  hence  that  it  is  a  criticism  upon 
their  conduct,  which  will  not,  I  think,  do  them  much 
good. 

"  This  morning  two  persons  come  to  see  me  who 
are  determined  to  go  out  to  America,  and  to  purchase 
there  my  Raritan  trust.  I  am  to  write  a  letter  for  them 
to  New  York.  A  person  calls  to  obtain  information 
about  America,  which  I  give,  and  also  advice.  Write,  and 
then  go  to  dine  with  M.  Millet.  After  dinner  one  of  the 
King's  pages  comes  in,  who  is  to  begin  his  tour  of  duty 
to-morrow.  He  tells  us  of  the  wonderful  sagacity,  under 
standing,  and  instruction  of  the  King,  his  virtues,  etc.  He 
must  be  very  confident,  I  think,  of  the  credulity  of  his  au 
dience.  M.  de  Moustier,  who  had  spoken  very  favorably 
of  him  to  me,  and  particularly  as  being  an  honest  man, 


1789.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  26 1 

looks  somewhat  ashamed.  A  good  deal  of  company  at  the 
Louvre.  At  midnight  the  gentlemen  kiss  the  ladies  ;  I  do 
not  attempt  this  operation,  because  there  is  some  resist 
ance,  and  I  like  only  the  yielding  kiss  and  that  from  lips 
I  love." 

Many  people  in  Paris  were  already  looking  toward 
America  as  offering  more  safety  if  not  comfort  than  any 
place  nearer  home,  in  the  general  upheaval  of  society 
that  they  felt  was  surely  coming  ;  and  much  of  Morris's 
time  was  occupied  in  giving  advice  and  assistance  to  the 
emigrants.  Several  colonization  schemes  had  already 
been  set  on  foot  in  Paris  by  Americans  anxious  to  get  rid 
of  their  unproductive  lands.  One  of  the  most  shameful  and 
cruel  of  these  projects  was  the  famous  Scioto  enterprise, 
and  the  founding  of  Gallipolis  on  the  Ohio.  Joel  Barlow 
and  Duer  were  among  the  men  who  furthered  the  emi 
gration  of  hundreds  of  unfortunate  families,  lured  to  de 
struction  by  pictures  of  a  salubrious  climate  and  fertile 
soil.  Morris,  who  was  entirely  convinced  of  the  rot 
tenness  of  the  Scioto  Company,  cautioned  and  tried  to 
protect  the  unwary  Frenchmen  from  too  hastily  rushing 
into  the  forests  of  America. 


262  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 


CHAPTER  VXIII. 

Comparison  between  the  newspaper  of  1777  and  1789.  New  Year's  salu 
tations.  Scene  at  the  Chatelet.  Madame  de  Flahaut's  boudoir. 
Stoppage  of  pensions.  Lively  discussion  thereon  in  Madame  de 
StaeTs  salon.  Visit  to  the  Comte  de  Chaste! lux.  Message  from  the 
Parlement  of  Brittany.  Morris  examines  table  -  ornaments  for 
Washington.  Decree  in  the  Assembly  concerning  office-holding. 
Adherence  to  the  constitution  required.  Riot  in  Paris.  A  handsome 
surtout  for  the  table  sent  to  Washington.  Need  of  cultivating  the 
taste  of  America.  The  Duchess  of  Orleans  obliged  to  economize. 
The  Cardinal  de  Rohan.  The  Bishop  of  Orleans.  Marmontel. 
Letter  to  Washington.  Morris  writes  a  note  on  the  situation  of 
affairs  for  the  king.  Delivered  to  the  queen  by  her  physician.  Anec 
dote  of  the  king.  He  goes  to  the  Assembly.  Conversation  with 
Lafayette. 

NOT  the  least  important  of  the  stirring  events  of  the 
year  just  closed  (1789)  was  the  sudden  development 
of  the  great  and  far-reaching  power  of  journalism.  Al 
ready  Marat,  Camille  Desmoulins,  Loustalot,  and  the 
principal  journalists  of  the  Revolution,  had  forced  them 
selves  before  the  public  ;  and  the  genius  of  the  Revolu 
tion  had  spoken  through  their  medium  with  telling  effect. 
There  is  a  striking  comparison  between  the  first  daily 
paper  which  was  published  in  Paris  in  1777,  with  its  arti 
cle  on  the  "  Almanac  of  the  Muses,"  its  letter  describing 
some  "  Vagary  of  Voltaire's,"  "  Two  Facts,"  and  a  "Witty 
Thing,"  and  the  violent  organs  of  the  Girondin  party,  or 
the  power  wielded  by  the  pen  of  Camille  Desmoulins, 
while  the  Revolution  was  in  full  swing.  And  now  was 
instituted  what  might  almost  be  called  the  cult  of  the 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  263 

Lantern,  for  which  someone  wrote  a  sacrilegious  litany 
supplicating  it  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  France  and  have 
pity  on  the  people,  with  the  refrain,  "  Effroi  des  aristo 
crats,  vengez-nous."  The  street  lamp  only  came  into  gen 
eral  use  in  Paris  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  Before 
his  time,  for  many  years,  the  Parisians  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  setting  a  lamp  in  a  conspicuous  window  during 
times  of  danger  ;  but  under  Louis  XIV.  the  lantern  in  the 
streets  became  an  object  of  great  admiration.  The  first 
and  most  interesting  lantern  of  Paris  hung  on  a  house 
opposite  the  Hotel  de  Ville  below  a  bust  of  the  Grand 
Monarque,  and  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.  this  iron 
branch  came  to  be  at  once  interesting  and  terrifying  to 
the  aristocrats.  The  year  1790  was  more  or  less  quietly 
ushered  in  at  the  capital,  but  throughout  France  cha 
teaux  were  burned,  their  owners  cruelly  outraged  and 
banished,  a  vast  amount  of  property  of  all  kinds  des 
troyed,  and  terror  and  confusion  reigned  supreme. 

"The  first  day  of  the  year,"  Morris  says,  "some 
friends  call  and  give  me  the  salutations  of  the  season,  and 
I  go  [January  ist]  round  and  pay  sundry  visits  of  the  sea 
son,  among  others  at  the  Chatelet  to  the  Baron  Besenval. 
He  is  a  little  vexed  at  finding  new  delays  in  his  trial.  He 
receives  a  visit  from  the  dames  de  la  Halle,  who  in  very 
bad  French,  though  Parisians,  make  him  their  sincere 
compliments,  promise  friendship  and  assistance,  which  are 
not  to  be  despised.  He  of  course  treats  them  all  with 
respect,  and  Mesdames  d'Oudenarde  and  La  Caze  stimu 
late  them  to  acts  of  violence.  This  is  truly  characteristic 
of  wrathful  women.  I  go  to  M.  de  Lafayette's.  A  long 
time  before  the  company  assemble.  Dine  at  half-past 
four.  He  tells  me  that  Monsieur  and  Mirabeau  are  closely 
allied,  that  one  is  a  weak  and  indolent  creature,  the  other 
an  active  and  artful  rascal.  I  tell  him  that  they  must  fin- 


264  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

ish  the  trial  of  Besenval  because  the  people  begin  to  take 
his  part,  and  that  of  course  a  violent  torrent  may  be  turned 
against  his  prosecutors  ;  this  affects  him.  To  my  sur 
prise  he  tells  me  that,  notwithstanding  my  criticisms  on 
the  Assemblee,  I  must  acknowledge  that  their  constitution 
is  better  than  that  of  England.  I  assure  him  that  he  is 
much  mistaken  if  he  imagines  that  to  be  my  opinion. 
Visit  Madame  de  Stael,  who  expresses  very  kindly  her 
apprehension  that  I  had  forgotten  her  ;  stay  till  half-past 
ten,  and  go  to  the  Louvre,  where  the  Bishop  d'Autun  is 
waiting  for  me.  Explain  to  him  a  plan  which  I  had  com 
municated  to  Madame  for  purchasing  facilities  in  America 
and  in  which  she  is  to  be  interested.  He  tells  me  that,  if 
the  advantage  is  great  and  the  operation  solid,  he  thinks 
he  can  obtain  two  millions.  I  tell  him  that  I  wish  to  con 
fine  the  object  to  one  million.  We  are  to  talk  further. 
He  observes  on  what  I  say  that  the  American  debt  would 
furnish  a  good  speculation.  I  tell  him  that  I  am  already 
engaged  in  it ;  that  it  is  so  large  an  object  that  the  junc 
tion  of  many  capitalists  became  necessary.  Madame  be 
ing  ill,  I  find  her  with  her  feet  in  warm  water,  and  when 
she  is  about  to  take  them  out,  one  of  her  women  being 
employed  in  that  operation,  the  Bishop  employs  himself 
in  warming  her  bed  with  a  warming-pan,  and  I  look  on. 
It  is  curious  enough  to  see  a  reverend  father  of  the  church 
engaged  in  this  pious  operation." 

"  Go  to  the  club  [January  4th].  The  National  Assembly 
have  stopped  the  pensions,  giving  only  3,ooof.  for  arrear 
ages  to  the  first  instant.  The  list  is  to  be  examined  be 
tween  this  and  the  ist  of  July  next,  for  the  purpose  of 
reformation,  and  absentees  are  to  receive  nothing  until 
their  return.  Go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs,  where  this  mat 
ter  is  discussed  pretty  much  at  large.  I  tell  them  that 
when  privileges  were  abolished  the  road  was  opened  for 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  265 

the  destruction  of  all  property.  This  gives  rise  to  an  end 
less  dispute,  in  which  she  shows  much  genius  and  little 
good  breeding.  The  opinions  are  various,  but  they  will 
all  be  alike.  I  threw  out  the  idea  on  purpose  to  make  an 
impression  on  some  who  have,  I  know,  styled  me  aristo 
crat,  etc.,  because  I  do  not  approve  of  their  sentiments. 

"  I  find  Madame  de  Flahaut  au  desespoir  about  the  re 
duction  of  the  pensions,  but  she  has  very  little  reason.  I 
convince  her  of  this,  or,  rather,  she  was  already  convinced 
of  it,  but  says  she  will  cry  very  loud.  Her  servants  this 
morning  have  waited  on  her,  with  the  assurance  that  they 
will,  if  necessary,  live  on  bread  and  water  for  the  next  six 
months.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  comes  in.  She  had  told 
me,  before  his  arrival,  that  Monsieur  has  written  a  letter 
to  the  King  demanding  a  seat  in  council.  It  is  in  concert 
with  the  Bishop  and  the  Due  de  Livi.  The  Bishop  says 
that  the  dfrret  respecting  the  pensions  would  not  have 
taken  effect  but  for  the  Abbe  de  Montesquiou.  Dine  with 
M.  de  Montmorin.  The  pensions  are  of  course  the  subject 
of  conversation.  I  treat  the  de'cret  as  a  violation  of  the 
laws  of  property.  It  seems  to  be  so  considered,  but  not 
in  a  light  so  extensive  as  that  in  which  I  place  it.  Draw 
a  parallel  between  this  and  the  compensation  given  by 
Great  Britain  to  the  American  Loyalists.  The  absence 
of  many  members  who  had  gone  to  dinner  is  considered 
here  the  cause  of  the  decree.  At  parting,  M.  de  Mont 
morin  asks  me  how  my  plan  goes  on.  I  tell  him  that  I 
expect  to  be  joined  by  the  Hollanders,  for  that  three  per 
sons  who  are  here  are  agreed,  and  one  of  them  goes  this 
afternoon  to  Amsterdam  to  bring  in  his  associates.  He  is 
very  glad  to  hear  this.  See  Madame  de  Chastellux,  who 
tells  me  that  she  has  seen  M.  de  Lafayette  ;  that  Favras 
will  be  hanged  ;  that  Monsieur  was  certainly  in  the  plot ; 
that  he  is  guided  by  Mirabeau.  As  M.  de  Lafayette  makes 


266  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

the  world  his  confidant,  the  secret  must  of  course  be  kept, 
for  it  cannot  go  farther.  But  the  consequence  to  him  must 
be  perpetual  enmity  from  Monsieur,  the  brother  of  the 
King,  who  in  all  cases  must  be  doing  mischief,  even  if  he 
has  not  ability  to  do  good.  The  Marechal  de  Segur  comes 
in.  We  have  some  conversation  about  the  pensions,  and 
my  sentiments  accord  well  with  his." 

"  Go  to  M.  de  Moustier's  to  dinner  [January  yth].  The 
Comte  de  Croix,  the  Prince  de  Broglio,  and  Clermont- 
Tonnerre  are  our  party.  The  last  two  are  greatly  violent 
against  the  Assemblee,  to  which  they  belong,  but  the 
Comte  de  Croix  has  a  little  of  the  obstination  flandraise, 
and  continues  firm  to  the  edicts,  many  of  which  he  op 
posed." 

"  Dress,  and  dine  to-day  [January  8th]  with  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans.  She  has  changed,  I  think  for  the  better,  in 
her  maitre  d'  hotel.  After  dinner  visit  the  Comte  de  Chas- 
tellux  and  his  lady — in  a  pavilion  of  the  Louvre,  in  the 
garret,  near  one  hundred  and  sixty  steps  from  the  earth, 
in  little  cabins,  and  stinking  most  odiously  from  the  col 
lected  treasures  of  ages.  Madame  shows  me  a  box  pre 
sented  by  her  Princess,  who  had  sent  a  painter  on  purpose 
to  the  Castle  of  Chastellux  to  take  the  different  views. 
It  is  a  situation  in  the  mountainous  part  of  Burgundy, 
near  a  small,  clear  river,  abounding  in  trout.  The  Count 
and  his  lady  are  a  domestic  couple.  How  happy  might 
they  be  to  breathe  the  air  of  their  own  chateau,  if  it 
were  possible  for  mortals  to  know  what  constitutes  their 
own  felicity.  Madame  de  Segur  is  here,  and  the  Marechal. 
The  Duchess  comes  in.  I  make  her  a  dish  of  tea.  She 
makes  use  of  many  obliging  expressions,  the  reason  of 
which  I  cannot  conjecture,  but  incline  to  think  that  they 
result  from  inattention.  We  shall  see.  After  she  is  gone, 
the  Chevalier  de  Graave  reads  us  the  speech  made  this 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  26/ 

day  by  the  Parlement  of  Brittany  to  the  Assemblee.  It 
is  written  with  great  force  and  precision,  and  shows  that 
they  are  confident  of  being  supported  by  the  province." 

"  Dine  to-day  [January  zoth]  with  M.  de  Lafayette. 
After  dinner  he  asks  me  how  they  are  to  provide  for  the 
case  of  disobedience  in  the  provincial  and  district  adminis 
trations,  which  are  submitted  to  the  orders  of  the  King,  but, 
being  elected,  may  not  respect  those  orders.  I  tell  him  that 
no  provision  can  be  made  ;  that  it  is  an  institution  radi 
cally  wrong,  and  they  cannot  alter  it,  because  they  have 
said  so  much  to  the  people  about  liberty  ;  that  they  must 
of  necessity  leave  the  correction  of  this  and  many  other 
defects  to  time  and  experience,  happy  if  the  changes 
induced  by  the  latter  should  not  bring  back  an  authority 
too  severe.  He  does  not  like  this  sentiment.  I  suppose 
they  will  find  out  some  expedient,  but  certainly  nothing 
effectual.  Go  from  hence  to  the  Louvre.  Madame  de 
Flahaut  is  distressed.  She  has  been  in  tears  all  day.  Af 
ter  much  entreaty  she  tells  me  the  cause.  Her  pensions 
from  Monsieur  and  from  the  Comte  d'Artois  are  stopped  ; 
on  that  from  the  King  she  receives  but  3,000!,  and  must 
therefore  leave  Paris.  I  try  to  console  her,  but  it  is  im 
possible.  Indeed,  the  stroke  is  severe,  for  with  youth, 
beauty,  wit,  and  every  loveliness,  she  must  quit  all  that 
she  loves,  to  pass  her  life  with  what  she  most  abhors.  Go 
from  hence  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  Short  is  here.  I 
repeat,  in  conversation  about  the  Parlement  of  Brittany, 
what  in  his  presence  I  observed  to  Lafayette  ;  viz.,  that  the 
Assemblee  must  deal  very  delicately  with  the  Bas-Bretons. 
But  he  repeats  Lafayette's  answer  ;  viz.,  that  nine-tenths 
of  the  province  are  with  the  Assemblee.  I  doubt  this  intel 
ligence,  because  the  address  of  the  Parlement  is  in  a  style 
of  calm  firmness  which  shows  a  conviction  of  support,  and 
their  position  in  the  neighborhood  of  Britain  is  critical. 


268  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

"This  morning  [January  nth]  I  go  to  the  Porcelaine 
to  see  a  kind  of  ornament  cemented  on  glass,  being  birds 
formed  with  their  feathers  and  other  natural  objects  in  the 
same  way  ;  of  course,  the  representation  is  more  just  than 
painting.  The  maker  is  here,  and  we  inquire  the  price  of 
a  surtout  (epergne)  *  for  a  table  ten  feet  long  and  two  feet 
wide.  It  is  2,ooof.,  and  cannot  be  finished  before  October 
next.  Go  to  the  Luxembourg,  to  dine  with  Count  Louis 
de  Narbonne.  A  very  good  dinner,  and  very  good  wines  ; 

the  Comte  d'Afry,  the  Due  de ,  the  Chevalier  de 

Narbonne,  Madame  de  Vintimille,  and  Madame  Fronsac. 
This  last  I  had  seen  at  M.  de  Montmorin's.  She  appears  to 
have  a  great  deal  of  the  free  and  easy  about  her ;  whether 
it  is  the  result  of  a  virtue  out  of  all  reach,  or  of  an  indif 
ference  about  appearances,  is  to  be  examined.  She  is  not 
unhandsome,  and  plays  well  on  the  harpsichord.  M.  de 
Bonnet,  who  was  to  have  dined  here,  comes  in  late  from 
the  Assemblee.  They  have  passed  a  decree  by  which  the 
members  of  the  Chambre  des  Vacations  are  rendered  inca 
pable  of  holding  any  office,  or  of  electing  or  being  elected, 
until  they  shall  announce  to  the  Assembly  their  adherence 
to  the  constitution.  This  is  strong,  but  the  Count  de 
Mirabeau  was  of  opinion  that  they  should  be  sent  to  the 
Chatelet  and  tried  for  Use-nation. 

"  Go  from  hence  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  Madame 
de  Segur  and  the  Marechal  and  the  Count  come  in.  Con 
versation  is  about  the  decree  of  the  day,  and  so  it  is  at 
Madame  de  StaeTs.  I  contend  that  this  decree  is  void,  ac 
cording  to  the  principles  of  the  Assemblee  themselves,  who 
have  declared  their  incompetency  to  act  in  a  judicial  ca 
pacity.  This  induces  a  long  dispute,  in  which  I  take  a 
greater  part  than  the  thing  is  worth,  but  the  society  here 

*  Washington  had  intrusted  to  Morris  an  order  for  the  purchase  of  table- 
ornaments  to  be  used  at  his  state  dinners  at  Philadelphia. 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  269 

has  that  tournure,  and  one  must  conform  to  or  abandon  it. 
The  latter,  perhaps,  is  the  wiser  course/' 

"  After  dinner  [January  i3th]  go  to  the  Louvre,  and 
find  Madame  de  Flahaut  in  deep  distress  at  the  idea  of 
leaving  Paris.  She  cannot  go  with  me  to  look  for  a  sur- 
tout  and  ornaments,  having  affairs.  The  Bishop  arrives. 
He  has  had  me  elected  into  a  society  here  which  as  yet  I 
do  not  exactly  know  the  meaning  of  ;  it  is,  however,  a  se 
lect  one.  He  expects  to  get  a  million  for  the  speculation 
proposed  to  Madame.  He  tells  me  that  the  members  of  the 
Breton  Parlement  come  hither  voluntarily,  because  they 
apprehended  force  from  the  Commons  of  Rennes.  This 
is  extraordinary,  for  Rennes  subsists  only  from  the  pres 
ence  of  the  Parlement.  There  has  been  a  riot  this  day  in 
Paris,  and  a  number  of  the  militaires  engaged  in  the  squab 
ble  have  been  taken  prisoners.  The  matter  is  not  gener 
ally  understood,  but  all  agree  that  Lafayette  has  acted 
with  great  prudence  and  decision." 

"  See  Madame  de  Flahaut  this  morning  [January  i4th]. 
She  tells  me  that  next  week  the  Caisse  d'Escompte  will  stop 
payment  in  coin  altogether.  At  Madame  de  Chastellux's 
the  Duchess  reproaches  me  with  neglecting  her  while  she 
was  ill  the  last  three  days,  to  which  I  reply  that  if  I  could 
have  been  useful  to  her  I  should  certainly  have  shown  my 
attention.  I  call  for  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  we  go  to 
look  for  a  surtout  ;  afterwards  go  to  the  manufactory  of 
Angouleme.  We  agree  that  the  porcelaine  here  is  hand 
somer  and  cheaper  than  that  of  Sevres.  I  think  I  shall 
purchase  for  General  Washington  here.  Madame  tells  me 
that  the  Comte  de  Segur  has  persuaded  Lafayette  to  place 
the  Bishop  in  the  finance.  He  told  him  that  he  disliked 
the  Bishop  as  much  as  M.  de  Lafayette,  but  that  they  had 
no  man  of  sufficient  abilities,  and  it  would  not  do  to  have 
the  abilities  of  the  Bishop  opposed  to  them.  Lafayette 


2/0  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

told  this  to  his  friend  Madame  de  Simieu,  she  to  Madame 

de  Coigny,  she  to  Madame  de ,  who  told  it  to  the  Due 

de  Biron,  and  he  told  it  to  Madame  de  Flahaut,  who  de 
sires  me  to  keep  up  this  apprehension  through  Madame 
de  Segur ;  but  I  shall  certainly  say  nothing  to  her  but  the 
truth,  nor  that,  unless  the  occasion  calls  for  it.  Her  hus 
band  is,  I  think,  wrong  in  pushing  so  hard  to  obtain  a 
place  in  the  administration.  But  time  must  determine  the 
propriety  of  this  judgment.  The  Duchess  arrives  late  at 
Madame  de  Chastellux's  to-night.  The  mother  of  the 
Bishop  d'Autun  is  here.  She  is  highly  aristocratic  ;  she 
says  that  the  great  of  this  country  who  have  favored  the 
Revolution  are  taken  in,  and  I  think  that  she  is  not  much 
mistaken  in  that  idea." 

A  surtout  of  seven  plateaus  and  the  ornaments  in  biscuit 
and  three  large  glass  covers  for  the  three  groups  were 
bought  and  sent  to  Washington.  When  sending  the 
pieces,  Morris  wrote  to  him  as  follows  :  "  In  all  there  are 
three  groups,  two  vases,  and  twelve  figures.  The  vases 
may  be  used  as  they  are,  or,  when  occasion  serves,  the  tops 
may  be  laid  aside  and  the  vases  filled  with  natural  flowers. 
When  the  whole  surtout  is  to  be  used  for  large  companies, 
the  large  group  will  be  in  the  middle,  the  two  smaller  ones 
at  the  two  ends,  the  vases  in  the  spaces  between  the  three, 
and  the  figures  distributed  along  the  edges,  or  rather  along 
the  sides.  .  .  .  To  clean  the  biscuit  warm  water  is  to 
be  used,  and  a  brush  such  as  is  used  for  painting  in  water- 
colors.  You  will  perhaps  exclaim  that  I  have  not  com 
plied  with  your  directions  as  to  economy,  but  you  will  be 
of  a  different  opinion  when  you  see  the  articles.  I  could 
have  sent  you  a  number  of  pretty  trifles  for  very  little 
prime  cost,  but  you  must  have  had  an  annual  supply,  and 
your  table  should  have  been  in  the  style  of  a  petite  mai- 
tresse  of  this  city.  ...  I  think  it  of  very  great  im- 


1790.3  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 


portance  to  fix  the  taste  of  our  country  properly,  and  I 
think  your  example  will  go  very  far  in  that  respect. 
It  is  therefore  my  wish  that  everything  about  you  should 
be  substantially  good  and  majestically  plain,  made  to  endure. 
.  .  .  By  the  bye,  you  must  be  thankful  that  I  did  not 
run  you  into  further  expense,  for  I  was  violently  tempted 
to  send  out  two  dozen  cups  and  saucers,  with  the  needful 
accompaniments,  to  Mrs.  Washington." 

"There  is  a  musical  party  at  Madame  Le  Coulteux's  to 
night  [January  i6th],  which  is  to  me  very  dull,  although 
the  singing  is  very  good.  De  Cantaleu  asks  me  with  a  sar 
castic  smile  how  the  Bishop  d'Autun  is.  I  tell  him  that 
he  is  by  no  means  eager  to  enter  into  the  administration 
at  present.  He  observes  that  at  present  a  minister  can  do 
nothing  ;  things  will  go  forward  in  their  own  way.  I  tell 
him  that  he  is  right  as  to  the  present  moment,  but  that 
ministers  might  have  directed  some  time  ago,  and  either 
everything  will  go  to  destruction  or  they  will  hereafter 
direct  the  machine  ;  that  even  now  it  is  important  to  in 
dividuals  to  be  apprised  of  their  intentions.  I  find  that 
M.  de  Cantaleu  has  all  the  self-importance  of  a  parvenu 
who  thinks  that  his  merit  has  obtained  what,  in  fact,  is  the 
price  of  his  attachment  to  the  ministers.  I  ask  Laurent  if 
nothing  can  be  made  out  of  the  assignats.  He  says  that 
until  five  or  six  months  are  passed,  and  their  value  a  little 
known,  it  will  be  impossible  to  judge  about  them." 

"Dine  at  Lafayette's  [January  lyth].  He  asks  what  I 
think  of  Ternant  as  Minister  to  America.  Tell  him  that  I 
approve.  Hence  I  conclude  that  he  intends  the  appoint 
ment  to  pass  in  my  opinion  as  of  his  making.  Very  well. 
After  dinner  Gouvernay  tells  me  that  Necker  is  much 
better,  but  makes  himself  worse  than  he  is,  by  way  of 
securing  a  retreat  which  he  meditates.  He  says  fur 
ther  that  a  chief  minister  is  necessary.  I  ask  him  who 


2/2.  DIARY  AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

is  to  be  in  the  finances  ;  whether  the  Bishop  d'Autun. 
He  says  that  he  will  not  do  at  all ;  that  he  is  unequal 
to  the  business  ;  that  M.  Touret  for  the  Home  Depart 
ment,  and  M.  de  St.  Priest  for  the  Foreign  Affairs  will 
do  very  well,  but  there  are  no  other  men  sufficiently 
eminent.  I  ask  Madame  de  Lafayette,  who  comes  up  to 
us,  to  name  a  man.  She  cannot.  I  observe  that  I  hear 
the  Comte  de  Segur  is  in  pursuit  of  the  office  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  Gouvernay  and  she  join  in  declaring  that  he  is 
not  fit  for  it.  At  dinner  Lafayette  asked  me  what  they 
should  do  about  their  militia.  I  told  him,  nothing ;  for 
they  cannot  do  what  is  right,  and  therefore  had  better 
leave  it  in  such  situation  as  that  it  can  be  mended,  which 
would  not  be  the  case  if  fixed  by  the  constitution.  He 
says  that  he  and  others  are  determined  to  select  particular 
articles  in  the  constitution  as  it  now  stands,  and  form  of 
them  a  constitution  properly  so  called,  leaving  the  rest  to 
the  mercy  of  the  legislature.  This  I  approve  of,  but  yet 
much  will  depend  on  the  selection.  I  advise  that  they 
should,  in  respect  to  their  bill  of  rights,  imitate  the  masons, 
who  knock  down  the  scaffolding  when  they  have  finished 
the  house.  Go  to  the  Louvre  and  give  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  such  information  as  relates  to  her  friend  ;  but  he  has 
too  good  an  opinion  of  his  own  opinion  to  make  a  good 
Minister  of  Finance.  In  the  different  societies  everybody 
seems  to  agree  that  things  go  badly,  and  they  speak  with 
despondence  ;  but,  in  fact,  nothing  good  could  result  from 
the  measures  of  Government,  which  have  been  so  very  ill 
judged." 

"  Dine  to-day  [January  Tpth]  at  the  Palais  Royal.*     The 

*  The  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Orleans  had  lived  happily  until  1789,  when  Ma 
dame  de  Genlis  came  between  them,  and  the  management  of  the  children  was 
given  to  her.  The  first  open  quarrel  they  had  was  when  the  duchess  refused 
to  accompany  the  duke  on  his  mission  to  England,  but  she  was  subse 
quently  reconciled  to  him.  About  this  time  a  separation  had  taken  place  be- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  273 

Duchess  tells  me  that  the  Duke's  treasurer  does  not  pay 
as  he  ought  to  do,  monthly,  and  that  unless  this  is  done 
she  will  not  adhere  to  the  contract.  She  receives  now 
450,000!  per  annum,  of  which  350,0001.  are  appropriated  to 
the  house,  servants,  table,  etc.  ;  near  15,000  louis.  Cer 
tainly  a  great  economy  might  be  made  upon  this  article. 
After  dinner  go  to  the  Louvre.  The  Cardinal  de  Rohan 
is  there.  Accidentally  he  mentions  his  prods,  and,  after 
relating  the  circumstances  which  brought  it  to  his  mind, 
he  declares  that  he  thinks  it  a  weakness  to  talk  of  it ;  and 
he  is  right.  He  has  plus  de  grace  que  (Tesprit.  But  he 
speaks  in  too  good  style  to  write  in  a  style  as  bad  as  Ma 
dame  de  la  Motte  has  attributed  to  him.  A  new  piece  at 
the  Comedie  to-night  much  applauded,  but  a  very  bad  one. 
It  is,  however,  la  mode.  The  object  is  to  ridicule,  or  rather 
to  preach  against,  the  prejudices  entertained  against  the 
family  and  connections  of  a  man  who  is  hanged.  A  '  Lor 
Anglais '  is  the  preacher,  who  takes  from  the  book  of  Eng 
land  a  text  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  it,  and,  with  the 
aid  of  antitheses  and  other  such  figures,  gives  the  audi 
ence  much  satisfaction,  which  is  greatly  increased  by  the 

tween  them,  and  a  lawsuit  had  been  commenced  to  obtain  the  repayment  of 
her  dowry.  This  demand,  in  the  shattered  condition  of  the  duke's  finances, 
meant  ruin.  At  length,  worn  out  with  worry,  the  duchess  quitted  her  hus 
band's  palace  on  the  twenty  second  anniversary  of  their  wedding-day,  April 
5,  1791,  and  sought  shelter  with  her  father,  the  Due  de  Penthievre.  Later  the 
Princesse  de  Lamballe  undertook  to  reconcile  the  duke  and  duchess,  and  the 
duke  offered  to  restore  the  dowry,  provided  the  duchess  would  settle  an  annu 
ity  of  one  hundred  thousand  livres  on  each  of  her  children,  entirely  independ 
ent  of  both  parents.  The  duchess  rejected  these  terms,  but  offered  to  be  re 
sponsible  for  the  entire  support  of  the  Comte  de  Beaujolais  and  Mademoiselle 
d'Orleans,  they  to  be  immediately  confided  to  her  care.  Scarcely  was  this 
proposal  made  than  Mademoiselle  d'Orleans  was  sent  with  Madame  de  Genlis 
to  England,  and  the  duchess  did  not  see  her  again  for  ten  years.  A  suit 
was  brought  against  the  duke  in  October,  1791,  which  was  continued  even  when 
the  husband  and  wife  were  separated  by  many  leagues,  and  the  decree  of 
final  separation  was  pronounced,  in  November,  1792,  only  a  few  weeks  before 
the  duke  lost  his  head. 
18 


274  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

judicious  ranting  of  the  actors — judicious,  because  a  nat 
ural  action  would  disclose  the  defects  of  the  piece,  now 
concealed  by  the  roaring." 

"While  Count  Dillon  and  I  are  walking  in  the  Champs 
Elysees  to-day  [January  2ist],  the  report  of  a  pistol  is 
heard,  which  Dillon  considers  some  duel,  for  of  late  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  that  kind  of  work  going  forward.  I 
laugh  at  the  idea,  but  presently  we  see  a  man  led  along 
by  a  party  of  soldiers  ;  making  up  to  them  we  learn  that  he 
just  now  shot  himself,  but  he  took  bad  aim,  so  that  the  ball, 
which  entered  in  at  his  forehead,  came  out  at  the  top  of 
his  head.  The  soldier  says  he  does  not  know  who  the  man 
is,  and  that  when  a  man  has  lost  his  all,  without  any  fault  of 
his  own,  the  best  thing  he  can  do  is  to  shoot  himself.  Go 
hence  to  the  Louvre,  and  stay  but  a  few  minutes  ;  M.  le 
Vicomte  de  St.  Priest  is  here.  Dine  with  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans.  The  Bishop  of  Orleans  is  here.  This  Bishop 
seems  to  be  of  that  kind  whose  sincerest  prayer  is  for  the 
fruit  of  good  living,  and,  to  judge  by  his  manner  of  talk 
ing,  one  would  suppose  that  he  deems  it  of  more  impor 
tance  to  speak  than  to  speak  truth.  Go  to  the  Louvre. 
Immediately  after  my  arrival  the  Bishop  comes  in,  who 
seems  not  at  all  content  to  find  me  here.  His  expecta 
tions  of  procuring  a  million  prove  abortive.  The  party 
tells  him  that  he  thinks  the  affair  excellent,  but  as  they 
must  soon  have  paper  money  in  France  he  must  collect 
his  funds  to  take  advantage  of  that  event,  by  which  he 
will  gain  greatly.  The  Bishop  goes  away,  and  Madame 
gives  me  a  plan  of  finance  to  read  which  is  prepared  by 
M.  de  St.  Foi  for  the  Bishop  and  on  which  she  asks  my 
opinion.  I  tell  her  that  nothing  more  is  necessary  to  ruin 
him  entirely.  In  effect,  it  is  a  scheme  for  i,ooo,ooo,ooof. 
in  paper  money  redeemable  in  twenty  years,  at  the  rate  of 
50,000,0001.  per  annum  ;  the  sum  redeemed  to  be  deter- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2/5 

mined  by  lottery  every  six  months,  and  then  25,ooo,ooof. 
to  be  paid,  and  on  that,  premiums  of  twenty  per  cent,  or 
five  millions,  and  to  effectuate  this,  a  tax  of  sixty  millions 
to  be  laid.  This  plan,  then,  is  to  borrow  at  an  interest  of 
ten  millions  per  thousand  millions,  or  one  per  cent.  The 
author  is  clear  that  the  paper,  instead  of  depreciating,  will 
be  above  par,  but  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  million 
loan  which  forms  the  standard  for  the  price  of  stocks  here 
and  which  bears  near  seven  per  cent,  interest,  premiums 
included,  sells  at  a  discount  of  above  ten  per  cent.  I 
show  her  a  few  of  the  many  fatal  consequences  which 
would  attend  the  adoption." 

"Walk  in  the  gardens  of  the  Tuileries  [January  22d] 
with  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  M.  de  St.  Pardou,  and  then 
dine  with  the  Comte  de  Montmorin.  M.  de  Marmontel* 
is  here.  After  dinner  I  speak  to  the  Count  about  the 
commerce  with  their  islands.  He  says  he  hopes  something 
will  be  done  in  the  next  fifteen  days  ;  that  in  his  opinion  they 
ought  to  permit  a  much  freer  commerce  with  us  than  with 
any  other  nation,  because  that  the  state  of  their  colonies 
must  depend  on  us.  I  communicate  to  him,  in  the  most 
perfect  confidence,  the  commission  with  which  I  am 
charged  in  part.  I  tell  him  two  very  great  truths  :  that  a 
free  commerce  with  the  British  Islands  is  the  object 
which  will  chiefly  operate  on  us  to  give  us  the  desire  of  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  Britain,  and  that  I  prefer  much  a 
close  connection  with  France.  He  tells  me  that  their 
great  misfortune  here  is  to  have  no  fixed  plan  nor  princi 
ple,  and  at  present  no  chief.  I  tell  him  that  they  ought 

*  Jean  Francois  Marmontel,  the  successor  to  D'Alembert  as  perpetual  sec 
retary  of  the  French  Academy,  a  writer  and  critic,  was  in  the  first  rank  of  the 
literature  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Full  of  resources  and  of  ideas,  he  ex 
pressed  himself  with  precision  and  force.  Through  the  epoch  of  the  Revo 
lution  his  course  was  dignified,  prudent,  and  at  the  same  time  generous. 
He  passed  those  stormy  years  in  retirement  in  the  country,  and  died  in  1799. 


2/6  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

to  go  to  war.  He  says  he  is  convinced  that  if  they  do  not 
soon  make  war,  it  will  soon  be  made  against  them.  But 
their  finances  !  I  tell  him  that  there  is  less  difficulty  in 
that  than  he  is  aware  of.  But  the  great  mischief  is  in  a 
constitution  without  energy.  We  join  the  company.  A 
good  deal  of  conversation  about  public  affairs,  in  which 
Marmontel  agrees  with  me  in  opinion.  I  had  an  oppor 
tunity  at  dinner  to  remark  on  the  varieties  in  taste.  A 
large  trout  was  received  from  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  and  it 
was  a  question  when  we  are  to  dine  off  it.  The  maitre 
d'hotel  was  interpellated  and  the  trout  was  produced — a 
very  large  one,  of  at  least  twenty  pounds  weight  and  per 
fectly  fresh,  having  been  brought  by  the  courier.  The 
maitre  d'hotel  says  it  must  be  kept  till  Wednesday,  '  pour 
etre  mortifie,'  and  as  that  day  does  not  suit  the  company, 
poor  Monsieur  Trout  must  e'en  mortify  two  days  longer. 
I  cannot  but  sympathize  in  his  afflictions." 

"  The  Vicomte  de  St.  Priest,  who  dines  at  the  Palais 
Royal  to-day  [January  25th]  and  sits  next  to  me,  mentions 
the  idea  of  the  King's  going  to  the  Assemblee  in  order  to 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Revolution.  I  blame  this 
step  and  tell  him,  without  mincing  the  matter,  that  his  ad 
visers  to  that  step  give  him  un  conseil  ou  inepte  ou  perfide. 
Madame  de  Segur  differs  with  me,  and  after  dinner  her 
husband,  to  whom  she  mentioned  it,  also  tells  me  that  he 
holds  the  opposite  opinion  and  wishes  to  discuss  the  mat 
ter  with  me.  I  only  add  that  the  King  ought  to  send  the 
Comte  d'Artois  his  children,  so  that  the  whole  of  the  royal 
family  should  not  be  in  the  power  of  their  enemies,  and 
that  he  should  let  the  nation  do  as  they  please.  In  the 
course  of  things,  they  will  come  back  to  their  allegiance. 
The  occasion  does  not  suit  for  a  discussion  of  this  matter. 
Return  home  and  write.  At  nine  go  to  the  Louvre.  The 
Bishop  d'Autun  is  here.  Some  conversation  about  coin- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  277 

age,  in  which  he  is  not  quite  right,  but  I  find  that  he  has 
studied  the  matter.  I  remind  him  of  the  book  he  was  to 
lend  me.  Send  my  servant  home  with  him,  and  he  trans 
mits  it.  Tis  somewhat  droll  to  receive  the  '  Portier  des 
Chartreux'  from  the  hands  of  a  reverend  father  in  God." 

The  following  letter,  written  in  January,  to  Washington, 
gives  a  forcible  and  correct  picture  of  Paris,  and  of  France 
as  well.  "  Your  sentiments,"  he  wrote,  "on  the  Revolu 
tion  effecting  here  I  believe  to  be  perfectly  just,  be 
cause  they  perfectly  accord  with  my  own,  and  that  is,  you 
know,  the  only  standard  which  Heaven  has  given  us  by 
which  to  judge.  The  King  is  in  effect  a  prisoner  at  Paris, 
and  obeys  entirely  the  National  Assembly.  This  Assembly 
may  be  divided  into  three  parts.  One,  called  the  aristo 
crats,  consists  of  the  high  clergy,  the  members  of  the  law 
(not  lawyers),  and  such  of  the  nobility  as  think  they  ought 
to  form  a  separate  order  ;  another,  which  has  no  name, 
but  which  consists  of  all  sorts  of  people,  really  friends  to 
a  free  government.  The  third  is  composed  of  what  are 
called  here  the  enragJs,  that  is,  the  madmen.  These  are  the 
most  numerous,  and  are  of  that  class  which  in  America 
is  known  by  the  name  of  pettifogging  lawyers,  together 
with  a  host  of  curates,  and  many  of  those  who,  in  all  re 
volutions,  throng  to  the  standard  of  change  because  they 
are  not  well.  This  party,  in  close  alliance  with  the  popu 
lace,  derives  from  that  circumstance  very  great  authority. 
They  have  already  unhinged  everything.  .  .  .  The 
torrent  rushes  on,  irresistible  until  it  shall  have  wasted 
itself. 

"  The  aristocrats  are  without  a  leader,  and  without  any 
plan  or  counsels  as  yet,  but  ready  to  throw  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  anyone  who  shall  offer.  The  middle 
party,  who  mean  well,  have  unfortunately  acquired  their 
ideas  of  government  from  books,  and  are  admirable  fel- 


2/8  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

lows  upon  paper  ;  but  as  it  happens,  somewhat  unfortu 
nately,  that  the  men  who  live  in  the  world  are  very  differ 
ent  from  those  who  dwell  in  the  heads  of  philosophers,  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if  the  systems  taken  out  of 
books  are  fit  for  nothing  but  to  be  put  into  books  again. 
Marraontel  is  the  only  man  I  have  met  with  among  their 
literati  who  seems  truly  to  understand  the  subject  ;  for 
the  rest,  they  discuss  nothing  in  the  Assembly.  One  large 
half  of  the  time  is  spent  in  hollowing  and  bawling — their 
manner  of  speaking.  Those  who  intend  to  speak  write 
their  names  on  a  tablet,  and  are  heard  in  the  order  that 
their  names  are  written  down,  if  the  others  will  hear  them, 
which  often  they  refuse  to  do,  keeping  up  a  continual  up 
roar  till  the  orator  leaves  the  pulpit.  Each  man  permit 
ted  to  speak  delivers  the  result  of  his  lucubrations,  so 
that  the  opposing  parties  fire  off  their  cartridges,  and 
it  is  a  million  to  one  if  their  missile  arguments  happen  to 
meet.  The  arguments  are  usually  printed  ;  therefore  there 
is  as  much  attention  paid  to  making  them  sound  and  look 
well,  as  to  convey  instruction  or  produce  conviction.  But 
there  is  another  ceremony  which  the  arguments  go  through, 
and  which  does  not  fail  to  affect  the  form,  at  least,  and 
perhaps  the  substance.  They  are  read  beforehand  in  a 
small  society  of  young  men  and  women,  and  generally  the 
fair  friend  of  the  speaker  is  one,  or  else  the  fair  whom  he 
means  to  make  his  friend,  and  the  society  very  politely 
give  their  approbation,  unless  the  lady  who  gives  the  tone 
to  that  circle  chances  to  reprehend  something,  which  is, 
of  course,  altered  if  not  amended.  Do  not  suppose  I  am 
playing  the  traveller.  I  have  assisted  at  some  of  these 
readings,  and  will  now  give  you  an  anecdote  from  one  of 
them.  I  was  at  Madame  de  StaeTs,  the  daughter  of  M. 
Necker.  She  is  a  woman  of  wonderful  wit,  and  above 
vulgar  prejudices  of  every  kind.  Her  house  is  a  kind  of 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2/9 

Temple  of  Apollo,  where  the  men  of  wit  and  fashion  are 
collected  twice  a  week  at  supper,  and  once  at  dinner,  and 
sometimes  more  frequently.  The  Comte  de  Clermont- 
Tonnerre  (one  of  their  greatest  orators)  read  to  us  a  very 
pathetic  oration,  and  the  object  was  to  show  that,  as  pen 
alties  are  the  legal  compensation  for  injuries  and  crimes, 
the  man  who  is  hanged,  having  by  that  event  paid  his  debt 
to  society,  ought  not  to  be  held  in  dishonor  ;  and  in  like 
manner,  he  who  has  been  condemned  for  seven  years  to 
be  flogged  in  the  galleys  should,  when  he  had  served  out 
his  apprenticeship,  be  received  again  into  good  company 
as  if  nothing  had  happened.  You  smile  ;  but  observe  that 
the  extreme  to  which  the  matter  was  carried  the  other 
way,  dishonoring  thousands  for  the  guilt  of  one,  has  so 
shocked  the  public  sentiment  as  to  render  this  extreme 
fashionable.  The  oration  was  very  fine,  very  sentimental, 
very  pathetic,  and  the  style  harmonious.  Shouts  of  ap 
plause  and  full  approbation.  When  this  was  pretty  well 
over,  I  told  him  that  his  speech  was  extremely  eloquent, 
but  that  his  principles  were  not  very  solid.  Universal 
surprise.  A  few  remarks  changed  the  face  of  things. 
The  position  was  universally  condemned,  and  he  left  the 
room.  I  need  not  add  that  as  yet  it  has  never  been  de 
livered  in  the  Assembly,  and  yet  it  was  of  the  kind  which 
produces  a  decree  by  acclamation  ;  for  sometimes  an  ora 
tor  gets  up  in  the  midst  of  another  deliberation,  makes  a 
fine  discourse,  and  closes  with  a  good  snug  resolution, 
which  is  carried  with  a  huzza.  Thus,  in  considering  a 
plan  for  a  national  bank  proposed  by  M.  Necker,  one  of 
them  took  it  into  his  head  to  move  that  every  member 
should  give  his  silver  buckles,  which  was  agreed  to  at  once, 
and  the  honorable  member  laid  his  upon  the  table,  after 
which  the  business  went  on  again.  It  is  difficult  to  guess 
whereabouts  the  flock  will  settle  when  it  flies  so  wild,  but, 


280  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  guess  at  present,  this  (late)  king 
dom  will  be  cast  into  a  congeries  of  little  democracies, 
not  laid  out  according  to  the  rivers  and  mountains,  but 
with  the  square  and.  compass,  according  to  latitude  and 
longitude  ;  and  as  the  provinces  had  anciently  different 
laws  (called  coutumes),  and  as  the  clippings  and  parings 
of  several  provinces  must  fall  together  within  some  of  the 
new  divisions,  I  think  such  fermenting  matter  must  give 
them  a  kind  of  political  colic. 

"  Their  Assemblee  Nationale  will  be  something  like  the 
old  Congress,  and  the  King  will  be  called  executive  magis 
trate.  As  yet  they  have  been  busily  engaged  in  pillaging 
the  present  occupant  of  his  authority.  How  much  they  will 
leave  him  will  depend  upon  the  chapter  of  accidents  ;  I  be 
lieve  it  will  be  very  little,  but,  little  or  much,  the  perspective 
of  such  a  king  and  such  an  assembly  brings  to  my  mind  a 
saying  which  Shakespeare  has  put  into  the  mouths  of  two 
old  soldiers  upon  hearing  that  Lepidus,  one  of  the  famous 
Triumvirate,  was  dead  :  '  So  the  poor  third  is  up.  World, 
thou  hast  a  pair  of  chaps  no  more  ;  and  throw  between 
them  all  the  food  thou  hast,  they'll  grind  the  one  the  other.' 
At  present  the  people  are  fully  determined  to  support  the 
Assembly,  and  although  there  are  some  discontents,  I  do 
not  believe  that  anything  very  serious  exists  in  the  style 
of  opposition.  Indeed,  it  would  be  wonderful  if  there 
should,  for  hitherto  an  extension  of  privileges  and  a  re 
mission  of  taxes  to  the  lower  class  has  marked  every  stage 
of  the  progress.  Besides,  the  love  of  novelty  is  a  great 
sweetener  in  revolutions.  But  the  time  will  come  when 
this  novelty  is  over,  and  all  its  charms  are  gone.  In  lieu 
of  the  taxes  remitted  other  taxes  must  be  laid,  for  the 
public  burden  must  be  borne.  The  elected  administrators 
must  then  either  indulge  their  electors,  which  will  be  ruin 
ous  to  the  fisc,  or,  in  urging  the  collection  of  taxes,  displease 


I7QO.]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  28 1 

their  constituents.  In  all  probability  there  will  be  a  little 
of  both  ;  hence  must  arise  bickerings  and  heart-burnings 
among  the  different  districts,  and  a  great  languor  through 
out  the  kingdom,  as  the  revenue  must  fall  short  of  calcu 
lation  in  point  of  time,  if  not  in  amount  (and  that  is  the 
same  thing  where  revenue  is  concerned).  It  will  follow 
that  either  the  interest  of  the  public  debt  will  not  be  regu 
larly  paid,  or  that  various  departments  will  be  starved  ; 
probably  a  little  of  both.  Hence  will  result  a  loss  of  pub 
lic  credit,  and  then  with  much  injury  to  commerce  and 
manufactures,  operating  a  further  decrease  of  the  means 
of  revenue,  and  much  debility  as  to  the  exterior  operations 
of  the  kingdom.  At  this  moment  the  discontented  spirits 
will  find  congenial  matter  in  abundance  to  work  upon,  and 
from  that  period  all  the  future  is  involved  in  the  mist  of 
conjecture.  If  the  reigning  prince  were  not  the  small-beer 
character  he  is,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that,  watch 
ing  events  and  making  tolerable  use  of  them,  he  would  re 
gain  his  authority  ;  but  what  will  you  have  from  a  creature 
who,  situated  as  he  is,  eats  and  drinks  and  sleeps  well,  and 
laughs  and  is  as  merry  a  grig  as  lives  ?  The  idea  that  they 
will  give  him  some  money  when  he  can  economize,  and 
that  he  will  have  no  trouble  in  governing,  contents  him 
entirely.  Poor  man,  he  little  thinks  how  unstable  is  his 
situation.  He  is  beloved,  but  it  is  not  with  the  sort  of 
love  which  a  monarch  should  inspire  ;  it  is  that  kind  of 
good-natured  pity  which  one  feels  for  a  led  captive.  There 
is,  besides,  no  possibility  of  serving  him,  for  at  the  slightest 
show  of  opposition  he  gives  up  everything,  and  every  per 
son.  As  to  his  ministers,  the  Comte  de  Montmorin  has 
more  understanding  than  people  in  general  imagine,  and 
he  means  well,  very  well,  but  he  means  it  feebly.  He  is  a 
good,  easy  kind  of  man,  one  who  would  make  an  excellent 
peace  minister  in  quiet  times,  but  he  wants  the  vigor  of 


282  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

mind  needful  for  great  occasions.  The  Comte  de  la  Lu- 
zerne  is  an  indolent,  pleasant  companion,  a  man  of  honor, 
and  as  obstinate  as  you  please,  but  he  has  somewhat  of 
the  creed  of  General  Gates,  that  the  world  does  a  great 
part  of  its  own  business,  without  the  aid  of  those  who  are 
at  the  head  of  affairs.  The  success  of  such  men  depends 
very  much  upon  the  run  of  the  dice.  The  Comte  de  St. 
Priest  is  the  only  man  among  them  who  has  what  they  call 
caractere,  which  answers  to  our  idea  of  firmness,  joined  to 
some  activity  ;  but  a  person  who  knows  him  pretty  well 
(which  I  do  not),  assures  me  that  he  is  mercenary  and 
false-hearted  ;  if  so,  he  cannot  possess  much  good  sense, 
whatever  may  be  his  share  of  genius  or  talents.  M.  de 
la  Tour  du  Pin,  whom  I  am  almost  unacquainted  with,  is, 
I  am  told,  no  great  things  in  any  respect.  M.  Necker  was 
frightened  by  the  enrages  into  the  acceptance  of  him  in 
stead  of  the  Marquis  de  Montesquiou,  who  has  a  consid 
erable  share  of  talents  and  a  good  deal  of  method.  Mon 
tesquiou  is,  of  course,  at  present  the  enemy  of  M.  Necker, 
having  been  his  friend. 

"  As  to  M.  Necker,  he  is  one  of  those  men  who  has  ob 
tained  a  much  greater  reputation  than  he  had  any  right 
to.  His  enemies  say  that  as  a  banker  he  acquired  his  for 
tune  by  means  which,  to  say  the  least,  were  indelicate,  and 
they  mention  instances.  But  in  this  country  everything 
is  so  much  exaggerated  that  nothing  is  more  useful  than  a 
little  scepticism.  M.  Necker,  in  his  public  administration, 
has  always  been  honest  and  disinterested,  which  proves 
well  I  think  for  his  former  private  conduct,  or  else  it 
proves  that  he  has  more  vanity  than  cupidity.  Be  that  as 
it  may,  an  unspotted  integrity  as  minister,  and  serving  at 
his  own  expense  in  an  office  which  others  seek  for  the  pur 
pose  of  enriqhing  themselves,  have  acquired  him  very  de 
servedly  much  confidence.  Add  to  this,  his  writings  on 


I79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  283 

finance  teem  with  that  sort  of  sensibility  which  makes  the 
fortune  of  modern  romances,  and  which  is  exactly  suited 
to  this  lively  nation,  who  love  to  read  but  hate  to  think. 
Hence  his  reputation.  He  is  a  man  of  genius,  and  his 
wife  is  a  woman  of  sense.  But  neither  of  them  has  tal 
ents,  or,  rather,  the  talents  of  a  great  minister.  His  educa 
tion  as  a  banker  has  taught  him  to  make  tight  bargains 
and  put  him  upon  his  guard  against  projects.  But  though 
he  understands  man  as  a  covetous  creature,  he  does  not 
understand  mankind,  a  defect  which  is  irremediable.  He 
is  utterly  ignorant  also  of  politics,  by  which  I  mean  poli 
tics  in  the  great  sense,  or  that  sublime  science  which  em 
braces  for  its  object  the  happiness  of  mankind.  Conse 
quently  he  neither  knows  what  constitution  to  form  nor 
how  to  obtain  the  consent  of  others  to  such  as  he  wishes. 
From  the  moment  of  convening  the  States-General,  he  has 
been  afloat  on  the  wide  ocean  of  incidents.  But  what  is 
most  extraordinary  is,  that  M.  Necker  is  a  very  poor  finan 
cier.  This  I  know  will  sound  like  heresy  in  the  ears  of 
most  people,  but  it  is  true.  The  plans  he  has  proposed 
are  feeble  and  ineptious.  Hitherto  he  has  been  supported 
by  borrowing  from  the  Caisse  d'Escompte,  which  (being  by 
means  of  what  they  call  here  an  arr$t  de  surs/ance  secured 
from  all  prosecution)  has  lent  him  a  sum  in  their  paper 
exceeding  the  totality  of  their  capital  by  about  four  mill 
ions  sterling.  Last  autumn  he  came  forward  to  the  As- 
semblee  with  a  dreadful  tale  of  woe,  at  the  fag  end  of 
which  was  a  tax  upon  every  member  of  the  community  of 
a  fourth  of  his  revenue,  which  he  declared  to  be  needful 
for  saving  the  state.  His  enemies  adopted  it  (declaring, 
what  is  very  true,  that  it  is  a  wretched,  impracticable  ex 
pedient)  in  the  hope  that  he  and  his  scheme  would  fall  to 
gether.  This  Assemblee,  this  patriotic  band,  took  in  a 
lump  the  minister's  proposition,  because  of  their  confidence 


284  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

and  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  them,  as  they  said,  but, 
in  fact,  because  they  would  not  risk  the  unpopularity  of 
a  tax.  The  plan  thus  adopted,  M.  Necker,  to  escape  the 
snare  which  he  had  nearly  got  taken  in,  altered  his  tax  into 
what  they  call  the  patriotic  contribution.  By  this  every 
man  is  to  declare,  if  he  pleases,  what  he  pleases  to  estimate 
as  his  annual  income,  and  to  pay  one-fourth  of  it  in  three 
years.  You  will  easily  suppose  that  this  fund  was  unpro 
ductive,  and,  notwithstanding  the  imminent  danger  of  the 
state,  here  we  are  without  any  aid  from  the  contribution 
patriotique.  His  next  scheme  was  that  of  a  national  bank, 
or  at  least  an  extension  of  the  Caisse  d'Escompte.  It  has 
been  variously  modelled  since,  and  many  capital  objections 
removed,  but  at  last  it  is  good  for  nothing,  and  so  it  will 
turn  out  ;  at  present  it  is  just  beginning.  By  way  of  giv 
ing  some  base  to  the  present  operation,  it  is  proposed  and 
determined  to  sell  about  ten  or  twelve  millions  sterling  of 
the  Crown  and  Church  lands,  both  of  which  are,  by  reso 
lution  of  the  Assemblee,  declared  to  belong  to  the  nation  ; 
but  as  it  is  clear  that  these  lands  will  not  sell  well  just 
now,  they  have  appointed  a  treasurer  to  receive  what  they 
will  sell  for  hereafter,  and  they  issue  a  kind  of  order  upon 
this  treasurer,  which  is  to  be  called  an  assignat,  and  is  to  be 
paid  (out  of  the  sales)  one,  two,  and  three  years  hence. 
They  expect  that  on  these  assignats  they  can  borrow 
money  to  face  the  engagements  of  the  Caisse  d'Escompte, 
and  they  are  at  the  same  time  to  pay  some  of  the  more  press 
ing  debts  with  the  same  assignats.  Now  this  plan  must 
fail  as  follows  :  First,  there  will  be  some  doubt  about  the 
title  of  these  lands,  at  least  till  the  Revolution  is  completed. 
Secondly,  the  representative  of  lands  must  always  (for  a 
reason  which  will  presently  appear)  sell  for  less  than  a 
representative  of  money,  and  therefore,  until  public  confi 
dence  is  so  far  restored  as  that  the  five  per  cents  are  above 


I79Q.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  285 

par,  these  assignats,  bearing  five  per  cent,  must  be  below 
par ;  money,  therefore,  cannot  be  raised  upon  them  but  at 
a  considerable  discount.  Thirdly,  the  lands  to  be  disposed 
of  must  sell  a  great  deal  below  their  value,  for  there  is  not 
money  to  buy  them  in  this  country,  and  the  proof  is  that 
they  never  obtained  money  on  loan  at  a  legal  interest,  but 
always  upon  a  premium  sufficient  to  draw  it  from  the 
employments  of  commerce  and  manufactures  ;  and  as  the 
Revolution  has  greatly  lessened  the  mass  of  money,  the 
effect  of  the  scarcity  must  be  greater.  But  further,  there 
is  a  solecism  in  the  plan  which  escapes  most  of  them,  and 
which  is  nevertheless  very  palpable.  The  value  of  lands 
in  Europe  is,  you  know,  estimated  by  the  income.  To  dis 
pose  of  public  lands,  therefore,  is  to  sell  public  revenue, 
and  therefore,  taking  the  legal  interest  at  five  per  cent., 
land  renting  for  icof.  ought  to  sell  for  2,ooof.  ;  but  they  ex 
pect  that  these  lands  will  sell  for  3,ooof.,  and  that  thereby 
not  only  public  credit  will  be  restored  but  a  great  saving 
will  be  made,  as  the  3,ooof.  will  redeem  an  interest  of  i5of. 
It  is,  however,  an  indisputable  fact  that,  public  credit  be 
ing  established,  the  stocks  are  worth  more  than  land  of 
equal  income,  and  for  three  reasons  :  First,  that  there  is  no 
trouble  whatever  in  the  management ;  secondly,  there  is  no 
danger  of  bad  crops  and  taxes  ;  and,  thirdly,  they  can  be  dis 
posed  of  at  a  moment's  warning,  if  the  owner  wants  money, 
and  be  as  readily  repurchased  when  it  suits  his  conveni 
ence,  If,  therefore,  the  public  credit  be  restored,  and 
there  be  a  surplus  sum  of  ten  to  twelve  millions  to  be  in 
vested,  and  if  such  large  sales  (contrary  to  custom)  should 
not,  from  the  amount,  affect  the  price,  still  the  lands  must 
go  cheaper  than  the  stocks,  and  consequently  the  interest 
bought  will  be  smaller  than  the  revenue  sold. 

"  Having  thus  given  you  a  very  rude  sketch  of  the  men 
and  the  measures  of  this  country,  I  see  and  feel  that  it  is 


286  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

time  to  conclude.  I  sincerely  wish  I  could  say  that  there 
are  able  men  at  hand  to  take  the  helm,  should  the  present 
pilot  abandon  the  ship.  But  I  have  great  apprehensions 
as  to  those  who  may  succeed.  The  present  set  must  wear 
out  in  the  course  of  the  year,  and  most  of  them  would  be 
glad  to  get  fairly  out  of  the  scrape  at  present,  but  it  is 
alike  dangerous  to  stay  or  to  go,  and  they  must  patiently 
await  the  breath  of  the  Assembly  and  follow  as  it  blows. 
The  new  order  of  things  cannot  endure.  I  hope  it  may  be 
mended,  but  fear  it  may  be  changed.  All  Europe  just 
now  is  like  a  mine  ready  to  explode,  and  if  this  winter 
does  not  produce  peace,  next  summer  will  behold  a  wider 
extension  of  the  war." 

"  To-day  [January  26th],  at  half-past  three,  I  go  to  M.  de 
Lafayette's.  He  tells  me  that  he  wishes  to  have  a  meet 
ing  of  Mr.  Short,  Mr.  Paine,  and  myself,  to  consider  their 
judiciary,  because  his  place  imposes  on  him  the  necessity 
of  being  right.  I  tell  him  that  Paine  can  do  him  no  good, 
for  that,  although  he  has  an  excellent  pen  to  write,  he  has 
but  an  indifferent  head  to  think.  In  conversing  about 
this  affair  he  tells  me  that  he  has  gotten  into  his  posses 
sion  a  m&moire  written  by  the  refugees  of  Turin  to  stir  up 
the  Princes  of  Germany  against  France,  etc.  It  is  to  be 
read  in  council  to-morrow  by  M.  de  Montmorin.  La 
fayette  says  it  shall  be  published.  I  desire  him  to  suspend 
that  determination,  and  give  him  reasons  which  convince 
his  judgment,  but  without  affecting  his  will.  He  is  to 
show  it  to  me  to-morrow,  and  I  think  the  public  will  soon 
be  let  into  the  secret.  At  half-past  nine  go  to  the  Lou 
vre.  Madame  has  another  lady  with  her  and  is  at  play. 
She  apologizes  for  it  in  English,  which  the  other  un 
derstands.  This  is  whimsical  enough.  I  make  tea  for 
them,  and  at  half-past  eleven  we  are  left  en  tete-a-tete. 
I  communicate  to  her  a  note,  written  this  morning,  upon 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  28/ 

the  situation  of  affairs,  and  the  conduct  which  the  King 
ought  to  pursue.  This  she  will  hand  to  the  Queen 
through  Vicq  d'Azyr,  the  Queen's  physician.  I  tell  her 
that  she  must  cultivate  the  Queen  and  give  her  good 
advice,  the  direct  contrary  of  what  the  King  receives 
from  the  ruling  party  ;  that  if  they  succeed  she  will 
then  be  provided  for  by  means  of  her  friends,  but  if 
if  they  fail,  then  the  Queen  will  feel  obligations  which, 
having  the  power,  she  will  of  course  repay.  My  friend 
feels  some  repugnance  to  this,  which  is  only  proper  con 
duct  for  her.  She  tells  me  an  affair  in  which  the  Marquis 
de  Montesquiou  behaves  with  indelicacy,  and  in  which  she 
sees  the  prospect  of  making  some  money.  She  is  to  give 
me  the  particulars  for  my  consideration.  I  leave  her  at 
half-past  twelve  and  return  home." 

"  Friday  [January  29th],  I  go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's  to 
eat  the  trout,  which  was  so  much  '  mortifie  '  that  he  refused 
to  assist  at  this  repast.  In  plain  English,  it  was  spoiled 
some  days  ago.  Before  dinner  the  question  of  the  King's 
visit  to  the  Assemblee  was  started,  and  I  very  impru 
dently  give  my  opinion  of  that  measure.  Reflection  tells 
me  that  whether  proposed  by  Necker  or  by  Lafayette, 
Montmorin  has  probably  agreed  to  it.  The  Baron  de 
Besenval  is  released  from  his  confinement  this  evening, 
about  eight  o'clock.  From  what  Madame  de  Chastellux 
tells  me  as  coming  from  Madame  Necker,  by  the  Due  de 
Nivernois,  I  conclude  that  the  proposed  plan  for  the 
King  originates  in  the  Finance  Department.  It  is  ridicu 
lous.  Go  to  the  Louvre.  M.  de  Montesquiou  is  there.  We 
have  some  conversation  on  political  topics,  and  after  a 
while  he  goes  away.  Madame  de  Flahaut  is  exceedingly 
distressed.  She  tells  me  their  conversation,  from  which 
she  collected  that  unless  he  can  borrow  money  to  relieve 
his  wants  he  must  put  an  end  to  his  existence.  She  is 


288  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

much  shocked  at  the  situation  of  a  friend  who  has  been 
long  and  sincerely  attached  to  her.  I  calm  her  griefs  as 
well  as  I  can,  and  leave  her  to  go  to  Madame  de  Chas- 
tellux's.  The  Comte  de  Segur  gives  me  all  the  reasons 
for  the  King  going  to  the  Assemblee,  which  are  not  worth 
a  sou,  in  my  opinion." 

"This  morning  [February  ist]  the  Comte  de  Luxem 
bourg  comes  to  breakfast  with  me  ;  as  I  am  very  busy,  I 
cut  the  conversation  short  and  begin  to  write.  He  leaves 
me,  lamenting  always  that  he  is  not  old  enough  to  be  in 
administration,  where,  with  the  aid  of  my  counsels,  he 
could  do  wonders.  He  will  know  better  by  and  by. 
Dine  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  After  dinner  we  dis 
cuss  a  question  on  which  I  deliver  a  sentiment  somewhat 
extraordinary,  in  this  extraordinary  country,  viz.,  that  a 
woman  of  sense  and  learning  is  more  easily  led  astray 
than  another  ;  among  other  reasons,  because,  having  per 
haps  a  higher  sense  of  duty,  she  feels  a  pleasure  propor 
tionately  greater  in  the  breach  which  leads  her  on  further 
and  faster  than  another  could  go.  The  Duchess  denies 
this  position,  but  in  my  elucidations  I  give  some  traits  of 
female  sentiment  so  true  that  an  old  lady  present  declares 
my  opinion  to  be  abominable,  but  fears  it  is  just.  I  can 
not  stay  to  finish  the  discussion,  but  as  soon  as  my  car 
riage  is  announced  I  step  into  it  and  go  to  M.  Necker's. 
I  tell  him  briefly  the  conduct  of  the  houses  in  Holland, 
and  add  that  I  must  go  thither  before  I  can  deal  further 
with  him.  He  seems  to  be  much  disappointed.  I  tell 
him  that  I  will  do  everything  in  my  power  to  conclude  the 
affair  agreeably  to  his  -  wishes ;  that  it  is  possible  the 
United  States  may  employ  me,  and  in  that  case  I  shall, 
from  motives  of  delicacy,  decline  all  further  dealings  with 
him,  but  in  such  case  I  will  cause  the  thing  to  be  done  by 
others.  He  seems  better  pleased.  He  is  one  of  those 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  289 

men  whose  opinions  one  must  guess  at.  From  Madame's 
manner,  I  think  I  can  perceive  that  my  neglect  of  the 
house  for  some  time  past  has  not  been  useful.  Perhaps 
there  are  other  reasons.  There  are  commotions  in  Brit 
tany,  and  the  Comte  de  Thiard  tells  me  that  commotions 
arise  from  the  Tiers,  i.e.,  from  some  citizens  disguised  as 
peasants.  Evidently  it  is  a  concert  with  the  members  of  the 
Assemblee.  Go  hence  to  the  Louvre,  and  sup.  Madame  de 
Flahaut  tells  me  that  the  Queen  has  told  Vicq  d'Azyr  she 
has  heard  that  the  Bishop  is  a  man  of  great  abilities,  and 
that  it  is  worth  while  to  have  such  men.  Vicq  d'Azyr  said 
he  was  well  assured,  from  one  of  his  intimate  friends,  that 
Her  Majesty  would  never  have  cause  to  complain  of  him. 
The  Queen  smiled  and  said  she  knew  who  that  friend  was, 
to  which  the  physician  replied,  *  Then  Your  Majesty  will 
spare  me  the  indiscretion  of  mentioning  it.'  He  gave  her 
the  note  I  had  written,  and  which  Madame  de  Flahaut 
had  copied  for  the  purpose.  The  Queen  said  that,  so  long 
as  M.  Necker  continues  in  office,  she  will  not  interfere  in 
affairs." 

"This  morning  [February  3d]  M.  de  la  Chaise  calls,  and 
I  spend  the  rest  of  the  morning  with  him.  I  try  to  per 
suade  him  to  join  me  at  once  in  an  offer  to  M.  Necker  on 
the  debt,  but  he  is  afraid.  I  show  him  the  advantages  of 
which  the  plan  is  susceptible,  and  the  facility  of  the  exe 
cution,  but  he  dares  not.  He  recommends  it  to  me  very 
strongly  to  go  to  Holland,  and  I  think  I  shall  take  his  ad 
vice.  Dine  at  the  Palais  Royal.  An  excellent  dinner. 
Puisignieu,  who  is  here,  tells  me  that  he  finds  that  I  was 
right  in  my  ideas  about  the  effect  of  the  King's  speech, 
and  owns  that  he  was  mistaken.  I  whisper  to  Madame  de 
Segur  that  this  information  has  no  effect  either  to  alter  or 
confirm  that  opinion,  which  is  founded  on  what  I  con 
ceive  to  be  the  nature  of  man.  It  is  a  very  strange  thing 
19 


290  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

that  men  who  have  lived  in  the  world  fifty  years  should 
believe  that  opposition,  founded  on  strong  direct  personal 
interests,  can  be  instantly  calmed  by  a  few  honeyed  ex 
pressions.  The  present  idea  is  that  it  will  have  a  won 
derful  effect  in  the  provinces,  but  I  can  conceive  of  no 
other  effect  there  than  to  create  animosity.  The  noblesse 
will  consider  it  as  the  effect  of  the  thraldom  in  which  he  is 
held,  and  the  populace  as  a  declaration  of  war  against  their 
superiors.  The  Abbe  Delille  repeats  some  verses,  his 

*  Catacombs.'     They  are  very  fine,  and  very  well  spoken, 
but  I  remark  to   him  that  one  of  his  lines  is  un  pen  fort  : 

1 II  ne  voit  que  la  nuit,  rientend que  la  silence.' 

He  tells  me  he  is  surprised  that  I,  above  all  men,  should 
make  that  remark,  who  must  certainly  remember  Milton's 

*  darkness  visible.'      There  is  a  difference,  however,  both 
in  the  phrase  and  in  the  idea  ;  there  is  a  difference,  also, 
in  the    kind    of  poem,  and    perhaps    Milton  was   on  the 
verge,  at  least,  of  bombast  in  that  expression.     However, 
I  do  not  discuss  the  matter  further  with  him." 

Just  as  Morris  was  hoping  to  arrange  satisfactorily 
the  affair  of  a  loan  on  the  debt  to  France  with  houses  in 
Holland,  he  received  the  information  "  that  the  houses  in 
Holland  have  not  only  refused  to  be  connected  with  me, 
either  as  parties  or  on  commission,  but  have  opened  a  loan 
for  3,000,000!  on  account  of  Congress,  and  written  a  letter 
to  Mr.  Hamilton  *  and  M.  Necker  urging  them  not  to  agree. 
Go  to  Mr.  Short's  to  see  the  letter  to  Hamilton,  which, 
besides  being  a  very  foolish  one,  is,  like  all  the  rest,  a  vio 
lation  of  the  promises  made  to  me.  I  tell  Van  Staphorst 
my  opinion  of  their  conduct,  which  he  acknowledges  to 
be  just.  I  have  disagreeable  forebodings  about  the  af- 

*  Alexander  Hamilton,  Secretary  of  ine  Treasury  of  the  United  States. 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  2QI 

fairs  negotiating  in  Holland.  Van  Staphorst  tells  me 
that  he  thinks  I  had  better  go  to  Amsterdam,  arid  that,  al 
though  the  houses  do  not  merit  a  participation  in  my  plan, 
yet  they  can  be  so  useful  that  I  shall  find  it  to  my  interest 
to  employ  them.  I  tell  him  that  I  think  I  shall  go.  Short 
comes  to  see  me,  and  I  read  him  my  letter  to  Colonel 
Hamilton.  He  will  write  in  conformity  to  my  sentiments, 
and  is  much  hurt  to  find  that  the  plan  has  not  succeeded. 
Madame  de  Segur  is  at  Madame  de  Chastellux's  when 
I  call  there.  She  tells  me,  and  the  Marechal  confirms  it, 
that  the  Queen  decided  the  King  to  go  to  the  Assemblee. 
She  adds,  as  received  from  an  aristocratic  quarter,  that  His 
Majesty,  the  day  before,  swore  hard  at  Necker,  and 
asked  him  if  that  step  would  procure  peace,  which  the 
poor  minister  could  not  promise  ;  that  he  was  very  much 
out  of  humor,  also,  all  the  morning,  and  that  when  he 
returned  from  the  Assemblee  he  passed  some  time  in  tears. 
I  doubt  that  this  picture  is  overcharged,  but  I  believe  the 
ground  is  just,  and  my  fair  informant  is  of  the  same  opin 
ion.  The  Marechal  avows  that  he  has  been  very  much 
mistaken  as  to  Necker's  abilities." 

On  the  4th  of  February  the  King  sent  a  message  to 
the  Assembly  to  say  that  at  midday  he  desired  to  attend 
their  deliberations :  u  Je  desire  etre  recu  sans  ceremo- 
nie."  Dressed  in  black,  attended  by  several  pages  and 
his  ministers,  he  arrived,  affected  not  to  sit  down,  but, 
hat  in  hand,  read  his  discourse.  The  diary  comments  on 
the  event  as  follows  :  "  The  Comte  de  Montmorin  tells  me 
that  the  King's  speech  has  been  received  with  great  ap 
plause.  The  Assembly  take  an  oath  to  support  the  consti 
tution  which  is  to  be  made.  A  strange  oath.  If  this 
step  of  His  Majesty  has  any  effect  on  reasonable  minds, 
it  must  be  to  prove  more  clearly  the  feebleness  of  his 
ministers,  For  three  mcaths  past  they  have  inveighed 


292  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

(to  the  members)  against  the  proceedings  of  the  As 
sembly,  and  they  appear  to  give  His  Majesty's  full  appro 
bation.  Go  from  hence  to  M.  de  Lafayette's.  He  asks 
my  opinion  of  this  step,  and  is  much  surprised  to  hear 
that  I  disapprove  of  it.  I  tell  him  that  I  think  it  can  do 
no  good,  and  must  therefore  do  harm.  He  says  it  will 
enable  him  to  advocate  the  royal  authority  in  the  As- 
semblee." 

"Dine  to-day  [February  5th]  with  the  Prince  de  Bro- 
glio,  and  go  afterwards  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's.  The 
Prince  of  Hesse  comes  in,  and  tells  us  of  what  has  passed 
in  Brabant  relative  to  the  reduction  of  12,000  Hessian 
troops  which  are  sent  for,  and  will  probably  arrive.  This 
comes  exactly  to  the  point  which  I  have  long  suspected. 
Mention,  in  consequence  of  what  Madame  de  Chastellux 
says,  my  opinion,  which  he  contests  a  little,  but  on  going 
away  he  tells  me  it  is  all  easy  enough  if  the  Prince  of 
Brunswick  were  at  the  head  of  affairs  ;  but  this,  he  says, 
is  prevented  by  the  Baron  de  Hertzberg.  I  find  Madame 
de  Flahaut  at  dinner  with  Miss  Fanny  and  Alice,  nieces 
of  her  religieuse.  After  dinner  go  with  Madame  de  Fla 
haut  below  to  answer  a  letter.  After  returning  to  the 
chamber,  they  contrive  to  keep  me  by  simply  locking  the 
door,  and  thus  I  am  deprived  of  my  intended  visit  to  the 
Commandant  General.  Go  from  hence  to  the  house  of 
Madame  de  Vannoise.  A  Madame  de  Pusy,  who  is  here, 
seems  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  aid.  Go  to  Madame  de  La- 
borde's.  A  Mrs.  Williams,  who  is  the  wife  of  an  English 
artillery  officer,  and  daughter  of  Doctor  Mallett,  the 
friend  of  Lord  Bolingbroke,  makes  acquaintance  with  me. 
She  pays  me  some  compliments,  which  are  too  pungent 
for  my  nerves,  and,  though  they  might  have  passed  in 
French,  they  revolt  in  English." 

"While  I  am  dining  to-day  [February  loth]  with  Madame 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  293 

de  Flahaut,  the  Bishop  comes  in,  and  tells  us  the  King's 
advice  to  the  Comte  d'Angivilliers,  which  is  curious.  *  Pray 
be  quiet,  Count,  for  the  times  are  difficult,  and  everyone 
must  take  care  of  himself  ;  so  that,  if  you  censure  the  pres 
ent  measures,  you  may  get  yourself  into  trouble.'  Go 
hence  to  Madame  de  Chastellux's  ;  the  Bishop's  report  of 
an  address  from  the  Assemblee  to  their  constituents  is  as 
much  censured  here  as  it  was  applauded  at  M.  de  Lafay 
ette's.  I  see  M.  de  Montmorin,  and  tell  him  what  has  passed 
specting  the  debt,  and  that  in  consequence  I  am  going  to 
Holland.  Go  from  hence  to  the  Comedie  Fran£aise.  A 
wretched  piece.  Take  Madame  de  Flahaut  home.  Mon 
sieur  comes  in  from  Versailles  ;  lend  him  my  carriage  to 
go  to  the  King's  coucher.  Tell  her  that  I  must  go  in  a  day 
or  two  to  Holland." 

"  Go  to-day  [February  i3th]  to  M.  Necker's  to  dinner. 
After  dinner,  as  I  am  going  away,  I  ask  if  he  has  any  com 
missions  for  Amsterdam.  He  asks  what  leads  me  thither; 
I  tell  him  that  I  wish  to  divert  the  gentlemen  there  from 
their  present  pursuits  and  bring  them  into  my  views.  He 
objects.  Says  he  understands  that  the  loan  they  have 
opened  is  filled,  and  that  he  expects  the  Americans  will 
pay  the  debt,  which  is  the  best  way.  Thus  it  seems  that 
this  plan  is  finally  ruined.  At  Madame  de  Chastellux's, 
to-night,  the  Comtesse  de  Segur  tells  me  that  on  Wednes 
day  next  M.  Necker  is  to  go  to  the  Assemblee,  and  tell  them 
that  upon  the  ist  of  March  there  will  not  be  a  shilling 
in  any  chest  belonging  to  the  public.  The  Duchess  comes 
in  ;  the  usual  chit-chat." 

"After  dining  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  go  to  La 
fayette's  [February  i5th].  He  takes  me  into  his  closet  and 
enters  into  conversation  on  the  state  of  affairs.  In  the 
course  of  conversation  I  ask  him  what  situation  their  fron 
tier  towns  are  in  toward  Flanders.  He  gives  but  a  dis- 


294  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIII. 

agreeable  account  of  them,  and  complains  of  the  Minister 
at  War,  whose  misconduct  has  aided  the  spirit  of  revolt 
prevalent  among  the  troops.  I  tell  him  that  the  enemies 
of  France  must  be  extremely  stupid  if  they  do  not  attack 
those  places.  He  is  much  alarmed  at  the  riots  which  still 
rage  in  the  provinces,  and  consults  me  as  to  a  plan  he  has 
in  agitation  for  giving  legal  authority  to  quell  them.  Ap 
prehensive  that  the  officers  of  the  municipality  may  not 
appear  on  some  occasions  to  head  the  military,  he  has,  in 
concurrence  with  M.  Short,  for  this  extraordinary  occasion, 
determined  to  authorize  the  commanding  officer  of  the 
troops  to  act  alone.  Thus  these  violent  advocates  of  lib 
erty  adopt  the  measure  most  hostile  to  it.  I  oppose  the 
plan  ;  show  him  the  evil  consequences,  personal  and  politi 
cal.  In  reply  to  the  question,  what  are  they  to  do  if  the 
municipalities  will  not  make  use  of  the  authorities  com 
mitted  to  them,  I  first  mark  out  the  various  penalties  which 
may  be  devised,  but  conclude  that  they  will  all  prove  in 
sufficient,  because  the  institution  of  the  municipalities  is 
radically  wrong.  Predict  to  him  that  they  will  become 
the  sources  of  endless  confusions,  and  of  great  debility, 
but  observe,  at  the  same  time,  that  they  have  flattered  the 
people  with  such  extravagant  notions  of  liberty  that  I  see 
it  is  out  of  their  power  to  alter  that  organization  until  ex 
perience  may  have  made  them  wiser.  Suggest  the  ap 
pointment  of  commissioners  as  conservators  to  be  sent  into 
each  district.  He  thinks  that  the  Assemblee  will  not  agree 
to  give  the  King  authority  to  name  such  commissioners. 
Finally,  however,  we  agree  that  it  may  be  proper  to  de 
clare,  provisoirement)  that  certain  commissioners  already 
named  for  other  purposes  shall  be  vested  with  the  power 
in  question  until  the  municipalities  are  organized.  He 
tells  me  that  he  must  give  the  King  a  sugar-plum  for  his 
speech  to  the  Assembly.  I  smile,  and  tell  him  that  he  has 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  295 

no  sugar-plum  to  give ;  that  they  have  already  parcelled 
out  the  executive  authority  in  such  way  that  they  cannot 
restore  it  to  the  monarch.  He  tells  me  that  he  has  thought 
of  appointing  St.  Priest  Minister  at  War,  with  Duportail 
under  him.  I  tell  him  that  I  do  not  know  St.  Priest,  but 
understand  from  one  who  does  know  him  that  he  is  faux, 
and  advise  him  to  be  clear  on  that  point  before  he  makes 
him  his  master.  As  to  Duportail,  I  say  nothing,  but  I  be 
lieve  him  to  be  incapable  because  I  believe  him  to  be  too 
much  a  man-of  the  closet ;  but  I  know  that  he  has  ideas 
very  different  from  Lafayette  as  to  this  revolution.  I  tell 
Lafayette  that  their  finances  are  in  the  high  road  to  destruc 
tion  ;  that  anarchy  seems  to  menace,  and  even  already  to 
attack  on  every  quarter  ;  wherefore  they  must,  above  all 
things,  secure  the  army,  which  promises  to  be  the  only  ex 
isting  establishment.  I  tell  him  that  if  a  war  breaks  out 
they  must  conduct  it  on  principles  totally  different  from 
those  hitherto  used  ;  that  they  must  put  strong  garrisons 
in  their  islands,  and  then  abandon  the  ocean  and  totally 
stop  their  commerce,  which  they  will  be  unable  to  protect; 
that  such  ships  as  they  can  fit  out  must  be  sent  to  cruise 
as  privateers  ;  that  they  must  march  with  all  the  force 
they  can  muster  directly  into  Holland,  and  endeavor  to 
possess  themselves  of  that  country.  I  have  not  time  to 
develop  these  ideas,  but  if  needful  I  will  take  an  oppor 
tunity  to  put  them  on  paper.  Mr.  Short  tells  me  that  La 
fayette  consulted  him,  with  others,  this  morning  about  the 
means  of  quelling  riots.  Go  from  hence  to  Madame  de 
Stael's.  Stay  but  a  little  while.  She  desires  me  to  bring  her 
a  novel  from  England,  if  any  good  one  comes  out.  She  has 
been  told  that  I  speak  ill  of  her.  I  tell  her  it  is  not  true." 
"The  morning  of  February  the  i6th,  prepare  for  my 
journey  to  Holland,  get  a  passport  and  maps,  bid  Madame 
de  Flahaut  adieu,  and  at  eleven  on  the  iyth  leave  Paris." 


296  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Journey  to  Antwerp.  Brussels.  Reflections  on  the  state  of  Flanders. 
Vanderhoot's  committee.  Notes  on  the  cathedral  and  galleries  of 
Antwerp.  Supper  at  M.  Cornelison's.  Agreeable  society  of  Antwerp. 
Notes  during  the  journey  to  Amsterdam.  Evening  in  Madame  Bost's 
salon.  Political  discussions.  Force  of  the  Dutch  navy.  Scene  on 
the  Merchants'  Exchange  at  Amsterdam.  News  from  France  of 
Necker's  resignation.  The  Hague.  The  churches  at  Delft.  Crosses 
to  England.  Interview  with  the  Duke  of  Leeds  on  the  treaty  and 
despatch  of  a  minister  to  the  United  States.  News  from  Paris. 
Pointed  opposition  to  Necker.  Visits  Sir  John  Sinclair.  Letter  to 
Colonel  Ternant.  Meets  Fox  at  dinner.  Mrs.  Jordan  at  Drury  Lane 
Theatre.  Warren  Hastings's  trial.  Criticism  on  Burke  and  Fox. 
Brilliant  ball  at  Mrs.  John  B.  Church's. 

MORRIS'S  journey  to  Antwerp  was  not  marked  by 
any  particular  adventures.  Rather  uncomfort 
able  inns,  extortionate  landlords,  and  lazy  horses  are  the 
principal  experiences  he  notes.  "Through  France,"  he 
says,  "  I  find  that  the  decree  of  the  Assembly  respecting 
the  monks  was  very  much  hazarded  and  is  disagreeable  to 
the  people  in  general.  The  appearance  of  the  houses  and 
people  in  Flanders  announces  a  milder  government  than 
that  of  the  country  we  have  quitted.  Parts  of  the  country 
abound  in  coal,  and  the  pits  are  now  worked  to  advantage 
by  the  aid  of  steam-engines.  This  article  seems  all  which 
was  wanted  for  the  wealth  of  Flanders,  and  if  in  the  pres 
ent  ferment  they  should  (by  being  annexed  to  Holland  or 
otherwise)  get  the  Scheldt  opened,  it  will  be  difficult  to 
conjecture  what  will  be  the  extent  of  their  wealth. 

"  At  Brussels  I  see  in  the  Grande  Place  the  Milice  Bour- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 

geoise.  Valor  may  supply  these  people  with  something  in 
stead  of  discipline,  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  their 
fate  must  be  decided  by  other  force  than  that  of  this  coun 
try.  I  learn  that  the  popular  party,  joined  to  the  nobility, 
begins  to  show  itself  here  against  the  clergy,  but  the 
monks  have  the  advantage  in  the  villages." 

"At  Malines,"  says  the  diary  for  February  2ist,  "the  peo 
ple  are  disposed  to  subject  themselves  to  the  Stadtholder 
and  form  one  country  with  Holland.  They  dislike  the  con 
duct  of  the  States,  at  least  so  says  an  intelligent  fellow  of  a 
waiter,  and  he  seems  as  likely  to  understand  the  sentiments 
of  his  fellow-citizens  as  anybody.  I  ask  him  if  the  relig 
ion  of  the  two  countries  will  not  form  an  obstacle.  He 
says  it  is  thought  not,  for  that  many  of  the  Dutch  begin  to 
become  converts  to  the  Catholic  faith,  '  which  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  because  man  cannot  continue  forever  on  this  earth.' 
I  express  my  joy  at  this  happy  circumstance  and  add  my 
opinion  that  the  Dutch  believe  in  God  ;  but  this  is  ex 
pressed  with  an  air  of  doubt  which  requires  further  in 
formation.  'Yes,  sir,  they  believe  in  God,  but  not  in  the 
Holy  Virgin,  and,  besides,  they  eat  flesh  upon  fast  days  ; 
wherefore  you  see  that  they  are  in  a  very  dangerous  way.' 
I  acknowledge  the  force  of  this  observation.  At  Antwerp 
I  overtake  M.  Grand,  who  left  Paris  near  three  days  be 
fore  me  ;  but  by  sundry  accidents  to  his  carriage  he  has 
been  delayed  for  nearly  that  space  of  time.  He  departs 
to-morrow.  Asks  the  news  of  Paris,  and  communicates 
what  he  has  heard  in  his  way.  We  converse  a  little  on 
politics  and  I  give  him  the  result  of  my  reflections  on  the 
state  of  this  country,  which  is,  that  the  true  interest  of 
Holland  is  that  it  should  be  a  republic  and,  as  such,  a  bar 
rier  against  France.  The  Scheldt  will  then  continue  to 
be  shut  up  for  the  benefit  of  Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam. 
The  interest  of  France  is  to  possess  this  country,  by  which 


298  DIARY    AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

means  she  keeps  all  enemies  at  a  most  respectful  distance, 
and  the  interest  of  this  country  is  to  become  subject  to 
Britain,  for  by  that  means  only  can  they  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  an  extensive  commerce. 

"M.  Grand  tells  me  [February  22d]  that  M.  Necker  wants 
the  money  which  has  been  borrowed  by  the  Dutch  houses. 
After  he  leaves  me  I  visit  M.  de  Wolf,  and  we  enter  upon 
business  immediately.  Visit  M.  Van  Ertborn  and  converse 
with  him  about  the  situation  of  the  politics  of  this  coun 
try.  In  the  course  of  conversation  he  tells  me  that  the 
people  here  have  more  capital  than  good  use  for  it,  but 
they  are  wary  of  speculations  and  loans,  many  affairs  of 
that  kind  having  turned  out  badly.  They  are  generally 
of  opinion  here  that  France  must  make  soon  a  bankruptcy. 
It  is  made  long  since.  Dalton  is  dead,  but  it  is  yet  a  dis 
pute  whether  by  poison,  pistol,  or  gout.  Vanderhoot  is 
of  a  committee  called  the  Secret  Committee.  He  is  to 
be  in  town  to-morrow.  That  committee,  a  kind  of  self- 
elected  body,  have,  it  is  said,  made  some  kind  of  treaty 
with  foreign  powers.  I  doubt  that  fact  much.  A  young 
man  who  arrives  from  Brussels,  and  is  in  the  patriot  army, 
gives  but  a  wretched  account  of  the  Etats-Generaux.  Al 
ready  there  has  been  a  riot  at  Brussels,  in  which  they  say 
one  person  lost  his  life.  In  consequence,  Vanderhoot,  as 
the  representative  of  the  Nation,  has  published  a  placard  pur 
porting  that  the  States  act  only  as  representatives  of  the 
people,  in  whom  the  sovereignty  resides." 

"  Breakfast  [February  27th]  with  M.  Dubois.  He  gives 
me  the  French  gazettes.  The  Marquis  de  Favras  is,  I 
find,  condemned  and  executed.  He  died  bravely,  and  I 
believe  unjustly.  But  a  sacrifice  was,  I  suppose,  deemed  to 
be  necessary.  After  breakfast  we  go  to  the  cathedral,  and 
there  view  the  famous  'Descent  from  the  Cross,'  painted 
by  Rubens.  It  is  done  with  dreadful  exactitude.  Another 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  299 

fine  picture  in  this  church  is  the  '  Beatification  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,'  which  appears  to  have  been  completed  by 
Rubens  in  fifteen  days,  and  to  have  been  paid  for  at  the  rate 
of  100  florins  per  day.  His  receipt  has  been  discovered  for 
this  picture  charged  in  that  way.  From  the  cathedral  in 
stead  of  going,  as  we  at  first  intended,  to  visit  some  gal 
leries  of  paintings,  we  go  to  the  house  of  M.  Van  Ertborn 
to  see  the  triumphal  entry  of  M.  Vanderhoot.  On  this 
occasion  the  troops  are  all  turned  out  under  arms,  and  we 
have  as  fine  a  procession  as  the  city  can  afford.  It  is,  in 
fact,  very  splendid,  and  the  hero  of  the  day  enters  amid 
the  repeated  acclamations  of  his  fellow- citizens.  Van 
Eupon,  the  Secretary  of  the  States,  accompanies  him,  and 
is  also  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Revolution. 

"Go  to  dine  with  M.  de  Wolf.  Mr.  Westbrook  and  his 
lady  are  here,  also  a  colonel  in  the  British  service,  a  Ger 
man,  whose  object  at  Antwerp  is  to  make  a  loan  for  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Dukes  of  York  and  Clarence. 
Mr.  Westbrook  assures  me  that  the  revolution  is  to  be  at 
tributed  entirely  to  Vanderhoot.  The  colonel  tells  me 
that  Yorktown  in  Virginia  was  taken  by  the  French  troops 
only,  and  that  the  Americans  looked  on  at  a  distance.  I 
hope,  for  the  honor  of  Mr.  Vanderhoot,  that  the  one  piece 
of  information  is  more  just  than  the  other.  I  take  the 
liberty  to  put  the  colonel  right,  which  might  as  well  per 
haps  have  been  let  alone,  but  I  could  not  resist  the  pro 
pensity.  We  have  a  very  good  fish  dinner,  for  this  is  a 
maigre  day.  Go  with  M.  Dubois  to  a  concert.  We  are 
in  the  box  of  Madame  with  her  sister,  the  Comtesse  d'Otro- 
inonde,  and  their  father,  the  Comte  d'Aes,  who  informs 
me  that  news  are  arrived  announcing  with  certainty  the 
Emperor's  death.  The  Comte  d'Otromonde  and  his  lady 
repeat  a  very  polite  invitation  to  dine  on  Monday,  as  I 
could  not  be  of  their  party  this  day,  but  I  must  depart  for 


3<DO  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

Amsterdam.  After  waiting  about  half  an  hour  Vander- 
hoot  comes  in,  and  is  received  by  loud  acclamations, 
which  are  repeated  at  every  interval  during  the  concert. 
After  he  goes  out  they  continue  singing  different  songs  to 
his  honor  in  the  French  and  Flemish  languages.  The 
former  are  more  estimable  for  the  sentiment  than  for  the 
poetry,  and  the  latter  I  do  not  understand.  With  my  pen 
cil  I  write  on  a  card  and  give  to  the  ladies  my  tribute  of 
applause  in  English,  which  they  do  not  understand,  and 
are  therefore  at  liberty  to  believe  that  it  is  excellent. 

Let  freedom's  friends  from  every  clime 

Here  virtue's  noble  triumph  see. 
Hail,  Vanderhoot !  to  latest  time 

Thy  name  shall  still  remember'd  be. 

For  thee  the  patriot's  breast  shall  glow, 
For  thee  the  grateful  song  shall  rise, 

On  thee  celestial  choirs  bestow 
A  place  distinguish'd  in  the  skies. 

From  the  concert  we  take  a  turn  in  the  coach  of  Ma 
dame  Dubois  through  the  town  to  see  the  illuminations, 
and  then  go  to  supper  at  M.  Cornelison's,  who  married  the 
sister  of  M.  Dubois.  The  burgundy  here  is  transcend- 
ently  good,  but  though  of  generous  quality  and  generously 
bestowed,  I  feel  not  the  desire  to  pour  out  large  libations. 
After  supper  the  conversation  turns  on  the  politics  and 
revolution  of  this  country.  The  master  of  the  house, 
who  seems  to  be  much  indisposed  to  the  authority  assumed 
by  the  States,  and  is  not  perhaps  a  very  great  friend  to  the 
revolution,  gives  us  a  history  of  it  in  his  way  ;  and  as  some 
dispute  arises,  I  am  able  to  collect  from  the  whole  conver 
sation  that  a  much  greater  portion  of  the  success  is  to  be 
attributed  to  the  misconduct  of  the  Austrian  troops  than 
to  the  vigor  of  the  patriots  either  in  body  or  mind.  And 
it  seems  also  to  be  pretty  clear  that  the  members  of  the 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  3OI 

States  are  of  that  species  which  is  called  good  sort  of  men  ; 
and,  indeed,  if  I  might  judge  from  Vanderhoot's  counte 
nance,  he,  also,  is  rather  distinguishable  for  bonhomie  than 
for  talents.  Those  who  are  called  the  Tiers  Etat  are  rep 
resentatives  rather  of  the  sovereign  than  of  the  people, 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  elections  are  made  ;  and  as 
the  nobles  are  hereditary,  and  the  clergy  are  more  proper 
ly  a  profession  than  a  political  order,  it  must  be  confessed 
that  such  an  assemblage  (originally  possessed  by  their  con 
stitution  of  a  share  of  the  legislative  authority,  and  now 
by  their  own  assumption  possessed  of  the  remainder,  and 
of  the  whole  executive  authority)  does  not  seem  likely  to 
render  the  condition  of  the  people  very  agreeable  should 
this  form  of  government  be  finally  established.  But  I 
cannot  but  think  it  more  prudent  to  secure  the  country 
first  against  the  late  sovereign,  and  afterwards,  when  the 
revolution  is  completed,  put  their  internal  affairs  in  order. 

"  The  English  nation  seems  to  be  more  agreeable  to  the 
inhabitants  of  this  country  than  either  the  Dutch  or 
French.  I  do  not  exactly  see  the  reason  of  this,  nor  do  I 
recollect  anything  in  their  history  which  should  have  given 
rise  to  this  preference.  The  shutting  up  of  the  Scheldt 
seems  naturally  enough  to  account  for  a  rooted  dislike  of 
the  Dutch,  and  perhaps  they  are  too  near  neighbors  for 
the  French  to  be  very  much  attached  to  them,  for  among 
nations  as  with  individuals  near  neighbors  are  seldom  good 
friends." 

"  After  dining  to-day  [February  28th]  with  M.  de  Wolf 
we  behold  the  procession  of  M.  Vanderhoot,  who  is  about 
to  depart,  and  who  is  escorted  from  the  city  with  as  much 
pomp  as  was  yesterday  displayed  to  receive  him.  Later 
in  the  evening  M.  Dubois  takes  me  to  his  brother's  to 
sup.  After  supper  the  conversation  is  accidentally  turned 
to  religion,  and  a  gentleman  present  observes  that  in  all 


302  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

countries  there  is  an  established  religion.  I  assure  him 
that  there  is  none  in  America.  We  are  led  too  far  on  this 
head,  for  this  country  is  too  ignorant  as  yet  to  understand 
the  true  principles  of  human  policy  with  respect  to  relig 
ion,  and  too  bigoted,  so  that  truths  almost  universally  ac 
knowledged  appear  almost  like  atheism.  At  least  such  is 
my  conjecture,  from  the  countenances  of  the  company, 
when  I  tell  them  that  God  is  sufficiently  powerful  to  do 
his  own  business  without  human  aid,  and  that  man  should 
confine  his  care  to  the  actions  of  his  fellow-creatures,  leav 
ing  to  that  Being  to  influence  the  thoughts  as  he  may 
think  proper." 

March  ist,  Morris  left  Antwerp  and  proceeded  to  Am 
sterdam.  "My  short  residence  in  this  city,"  he  says,  "has 
attached  me  to  the  society  I  was  in,  so  that  I  leave  it  with 
regret."  The  business  which  occasioned  his  visit  was 
not  without  result,  for  he  and  De  Wolf  "agreed  as  to  ways 
and  means  of  operating  hereafter  in  the  American  debt." 
On  his  way  he  observes  that  "the  whole  country  on  the 
right  is  laid  waste,  and  the  greater  part  is  under  water. 
The  appearance  as  we  approach  is  terrible,  for  it  looks 
like  a  wide  ocean  which  we  are  to  cross  on  a  strip  of  land. 
The  fact,  I  find,  is  that  the  dyke  was  broken  down  by  the 
river,  and  the  torrent  swept  away  everything.  It  appears 
to  have  been  done  a  year  or  two  ago,  and  is  at  present  re 
paired,  but  this  is  only  a  specimen  of  the  state  which 
seems  to  threaten,  though  perhaps  at  a  very  remote  period, 
this  extraordinary  country.  A  great  part  of  it  is  very 
much  below  the  level  of  the  water,  and  therefore  the  small 
est  perforation  of  the  bank  would  let  in  the  inundation  at 
any  time.  The  texture  of  these  dykes  also  appears  to  me 
to  be  nothing  more  than  the  common  earth  thrown  up. 
If  so,  a  cargo  of  musk-rats  would  do  them  more  serious 
mischief  than  an  hundred  thousand  men,  provided  that 


1790-1  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  303 

animal  could  exist  in  this  climate,  and  I  see  no  reason  why 
it  should  not.  After  we  leave  this  theatre  of  destruction 
we  go  along  a  very  considerable  distance  with  the  Haarlem 
Meer  (a  very  large  lake  communicating  near  to  the  city  of 
Amsterdam  with  the  ocean).  On  our  left  and  on  our  right 
the  turf  grounds  are  under  water,  the  road  too  narrow 
to  admit  of  more  than  one  carriage  for  a  great  part  of  the 
way,  and  the  Haarlem  Meer  (perhaps  swelled  by  the  tide) 
is  nearly  on  a  level  with  us.  This  is  as  dreary  and  dis 
agreeable  a  ride  as  can  be  wished.  At  a  little  before  four 
we  are  set  down  at  the  'Arms  of  Amsterdam,'  so  that  we 
have  been  nine  hours  on  the  road." 

"Go  to  see  M.  Hope  on  business  of  the  American  debt 
[March  4th].  The  envoy  from  Prussia  to  Portugal  comes 
in.  At  dinner  the  conversation  turns  a  little  upon  the 
state  of  Europe,  and  the  envoy  seems  to  think  that  the 
Archduke  will  be  chosen  Emperor  if  he  will  make  the 
needful  sacrifices,  one  of  which  (and,  indeed,  the  principal 
one)  is  to  give  up  the  alliance  with  the  Empress  of  Russia 
and  make  peace  with  the  Turk.  He  seems  to  suppose 
that  he  may  by  this  means  recover  the  possession  of 
Flanders.  Go  hence  to  Madame  Host's.  A  very  gen 
eral  company  and  excellent  music.  The  salon  is  very 
handsome,  and  decorated  with  valuable  pictures  by 
the  greatest  masters.  French  politics  are  immediately 
broached,  and  I  find  that  they  are  of  the  Orange  party, 
consequently  glad  to  see  the  miseries  which  the  Revolu 
tion  has  brought  upon  France.  I  endeavor  to  show  that 
the  state  of  things  in  France  was  such  as  to  necessitate  a 
change  of  some  sort,  and  although  they  have,  as  is  natural, 
gone  into  an  extreme,  yet  there  is  reason  to  hope  that,  see 
ing  their  error,  they  will  return.  Insensibly  we  come  to 
ward  Holland,  and  in  reply  to  an  observation  of  Madame 
I  observe  that  this  country  appears  to  me  in  a  situation  as 


304  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

precarious  as  any  other  in  Europe  ;  that  they  cannot  long 
continue  what  they  now  are,  but  must  descend  of  necessity 
by  the  weight  of  irresistible  circumstances.  This  calls  out 
M.  Bost  (a  man  of  sense  and  information),  and  in  the 
spirit  of  argument  he  communicates  useful  facts,  which 
are  nevertheless  in  confirmation  of  the  opinion  he  com 
bats.  I  tell  him  that  the  individual  wealth  of  the  country 
resulting  from  the  accumulated  interest  of  money  lent  is 
fatal  to  the  public  wealth  ;  that  it  has  from  natural  causes 
banished  manufactures,  and  that  their  agriculture,  circum 
scribed  within  narrow  bounds,  cannot  bear  any  further  im 
positions  ;  consequently  the  revenue  cannot  be  increased. 
And  as  their  commerce,  though  positively  greater  than  in 
the  last  century,  is  comparatively  much  less,  that  source 
of  public  wealth  is  drying  up  the  competition  of  people 
whose  natural  position  gives  them  advantages.  For  the 
commerce  here,  being  that  of  an  intermediary  between 
other  nations,  renders  a  profit  only  to  the  merchant  with 
out  adding  anything  to  the  general  mass.  M.  Bost  in  reply 
to  this  says  that  the  wealth  depending  on  manufactures  is 
not  only  precarious  but  a  felo  de  se,  and  necessarily  de 
structive  of  itself,  because  it  must  so  raise  the  price  of 
labor  as  to  give  to  other  countries  an  advantageous  com 
petition.  He  is  mistaken,  but  I  think  it  best  to  let  him  en 
joy  his  mistake.  Besides,  it  is  time  to  go  to  the  concert. 

"  We  have  very  good  music.  I  ask  an  officer  of  the  navy 
the  state  of  their  army  and  navy.  He  tells  me  they  have 
fifty  ships  of  the  line  and  as  many  frigates  ;  their  army 
consists  of  3,000  infantry  and  2,000  artillery,  and  as  many 
cavalry.  These  last  are  some  of  the  finest  in  Europe.  I 
ask  Mr.  Bost  how  much  the  tax  of  the  twenty-fifth  penny 
yielded  here.  He  tells  me  that  it  produced  in  the  province 
of  Holland  eighty  millions  of  guelders." 

"  The  news  from  France  to-day  [March  6th]  is  that  M. 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  305 

Necker  is  to  go  to  the  Assemblee  and  propose  apian  of 
finance  which  will  put  everything  to  rights,  and  this  they 
seem  to  be  convinced  of.  La  Chaise  had  told  me  last 
evening  that  things  were  going  on  very  badly  in  their 
finances,  and  that  M.  Necker  has  the  jaundice  ;  thus  the 
same  post  brings  very  different  accounts  of  the  same 
thing." 

"  Go  to  the  exchange  [March  roth],  which  is  a  very 
curious  scene.  Jan  Willinks  takes  me  upstairs  to  a  win 
dow  to  show  it  more  fully.  A  general  meeting,  this,  of 
the  representatives  of  the  earth.  Each  merchant  has  his 
stand,  and  the  brokers,  who  are  as  busy  as  it  is  possible  for 
men  to  be,  keep  constantly  applying  to  them  on  one  sub 
ject  or  another.  Go  to  the  French  Theatre,  and  sit  in  the 
Burgomaster's  box  immediately  behind  Madame  Bost  and 
Madame  Hasselaer.  I  find  that  this  latter  was  acquainted 
at  Spa  with  my  brother,  General  Morris.  She  says  that 
his  wife  is  a  very  amiable  woman.  Learn  the  news  from 
France,  which  is  that  Necker  has  announced  that  he  must 
retire,  and  proposes  to  stop  payment  for  a  year,  also  to 
issue  paper  money  (at  least,  so  says  the  abstract  of  his 
speech).  These,  wild  measures  must  ruin  the  exchange 
and  stocks." 

"  Dine  [March  i3th]  with  W.  Willinks  (enfamille).  Our 
company  consists  of  his  children,  with  their  private  tutors 
and  a  professor,  who  is,  he  says,  a  very  learned  man  ;  also 
a  student  under  that  professor.  By  this  means  we  are  ten 
at  table,  and  Madame  places  me  in  an  arm-chair  at  the  end 
of  it.  She  sits  on  my  right,  and  Monsieur  on  my  left.  Two 
dishes  of  cod,  one  at  each  end,  some  potatoes  in  the  middle, 
the  cod's  liver  boiled  in  one  sauce-boat  and  butter  boiled 
in  the  other,  form  the  first  course.  With  the  aid  of  some 
mustard,  I  take  in  a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  fish  to  be  cov 
ered  against  contingencies.  When  this  service  is  removed, 

20 


306  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

the  potatoes  are  replaced  by  a  piece  of  boiled  beef,  and  the 
dish  of  fish  next  me  is  in  like  manner  replaced  by  two 
miserable  chickens,  or  rather  fowls,  whose  sharp  breast 
bones  complain  of  the  fire  by  which  the  little  juice  they 
once  might  boast  of  has  been  dried  away.  A  watery  sauce 
which  surrounds  them  can  but  ill  supply  the  defect  of 
nature  and  the  waste  of  art.  A  flat  pudding  at  the  other 
end,  and  four  plates  of  greasy  vegetables  at  the  corners, 
make  up  this  second  course.  The  dessert  is  a  little  better 
as  to  quantity,  but  the  quality  shows  that  the  principles  of 
a  rigid  economy  have  been  duly  attended  to.  The  wines, 
however,  might  give  that  indigestion  against  which  the 
due  precautions  have  been  taken  in  the  dinner,  but  from 
a  similar  cause,  there  is  little  danger  of  excess.  Some  in 
sipid  Cape  Madeira  figures  in  the  dessert,  with  some  sweet 
wine  which  is  called  White  Cape.  The  conversation  is  like 
the  feast,  and  turns  upon  business.  I  have  but  little  reason 
to  be  satisfied  with  it  ;  however,  time  and  chance  produce 
strange  revolutions  on  this  globe.  We  shall  see." 

"  To-day  [March  i6th]  we  embark  in  M.  Willinks's  yacht 
for  Saardam.  It  is  a  flat-bottomed  vessel,  with  leeboards, 
and  is  broader  in  proportion  to  the  length  than  a  periau- 
ger.  It  is  rigged  sloop-fashion.  At  Saardam  I  am  made 
to  remark  the  old-fashioned  dress,  and  am  struck  with  what 
is  not  pointed  out  ;  viz.,  the  manner  of  arranging  the  hair 
as  I  have  seen  it  in  old  pictures  of  the  time  of  Louis  XIV., 
in  little  ringlets  on  the  forehead.  A  girl  of  about  fifteen, 
with  auburn  locks  in  that  style,  a  clear  complexion,  and 
rosy  cheeks,  looks  like  one  of  the  woodland  nymphs  of 
ancient  poesy.  Another  thing  pointed  out  to  me  is,  I  be 
lieve,  peculiar  to  this  part  of  the  world — a  mortuary  door, 
which  is  never  opened  but  to  take  away  a  corpse." 

"  1  hear  [March  ipth]  that  the  Committee  of  Finance 
have  made  severe  strictures  on  Necker's  plan,  and  repro- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  307 

bated  in  particular  the  idea  of  a  board  of  commissioners 
of  the  treasury,  chosen  from  out  of  the  Assemblee.  They 
recommend  also  a  paper  money,  bearing  interest,  which 
they  think  will  not  depreciate,  and  in  this  I  think  they  are 
very  much  mistaken.  Time  only  can  show  the  worth  of 
that  measure.  The  exchange  in  the  meantime,  and  the 
effets  royaux,  continue  to  fall.  I  go  to  the  older  Madame 
Capadoces,  but  the  young  ladies  of  the  family  are  here. 
Madame  Caton  receives  well  my  advances.  Madame  Sara 
seems  to  have  more  understanding  than  her  sister-in-law. 
She  is  equally  beautiful,  though  in  a  different  style,  and 
has  an  air  moins  lubrique,  but  her  eyes  speak  the  language 
of  that  sentiment  which  warms  and  melts  the  heart.  No 
pulse  but  the  beat  of  delight,  no  sound  but  the  murmur 
of  joy.  Heaven  knoweth  best,  ye  fair  daughters  of  Sion, 
if  ever  it  will  be  my  lot  to  behold  you  again.  All  which 
I  can  do  is  to  raise  some  gentle  prepossessions  not  un 
favorable  to  future  efforts,  should  chance  again  place  me 
within  that  circle  where  you  fill  so  bright  a  space.  I  find 
that  rny  adorations  are  not  illy  received  by  the  fair  Sara, 
and  that  the  delicious  Caton  is  less  pleased  than  she  ex 
pected  at  those  worshippings.  Tant  mieux.  We  retire  after 
one  o'clock,  which  is  not  the  way  to  preserve  health,  I  be 
lieve." 

Morris  left  Amsterdam  on  the  22d,  with  assurances 
from  Mr.  John  Willinks  that  if  it  were  possible  they  would 
effect  his  object  in  regard  to  the  debt  question.  The 
Hague  was  the  next  stopping-place,  and  the  following 
morning,  immediately  after  breakfast,  he  went  to  Scheven- 
ingen,  then  " a  little  fishing-village  "  merely.  "The  road  is 
straight,  level,  and  paved  with  brick.  We  go  directly 
through  the  dunes  or  sand-hills,  which,  viewed  in  their  ex 
tent  northward  along  the  coast,  have  somewhat  the  shape 
and  appearance  of  a  troubled  sea.  A  small  ascent  from 


308  DIARY    AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

Scheveningen  of  five  or  six  feet  presents  to  my  view  the 
German  ocean.  Three  fishing-vessels  lie  on  the  beach. 
Their  leeboards  are  made  of  one  plank  only,  and  are  long ; 
the  vessels  short,  and  by  no  means  clean-built.  They  are 
not  quite  flat-bottomed,  but  nearly  so.  My  guide  tells  me 
that  they  have  a  great  commerce  for  fish.  At  present  they 
are  packing  up  skate  for  Brabant.  Returning,  we  go  to 
the  prince's  cabinet  of  paintings.  There  are  here  several 
very  good  pieces — and  some  indifferent;  a  *  Venus'  and 
an  '  Eve,'  both  by  Rubens.  Dine,  and  depart  for  Rotter 
dam.  Stop  at  Delft  and  visit  two  churches.  In  the  one 
are  the  monuments  of  Van  Tromp  and  another  admiral ; 
in  the  other  church  is  the  monument  of  the  great  Nassau, 
first  Stadtholder,  murdered  in  this  city  by  a  person  whom 
the  Spanish  had'hired  for  the  purpose.  At  the  feet  of  the 
hero  is  represented  his  faithful  dog,  who,  when  his  master 
was  slain,  would  neither  eat  nor  drink,  and  so  perished  in 
affectionate  and  sorrowful  attendance.  Poor,  worthy  creat 
ure  !  In  this  church  is  also  the  monument  of  Grotius. 
Over  the  Stadtholder  are  represented  two  weeping  Cupids, 
but  nothing  can  be  more  ludicrous  than  their  grimaces. 
From  hence  we  proceed  to  Rotterdam,  and  arrive  at  half- 
past  six,  having  been  but  three  hours.  Mr.  Gregory,  I  find, 
has  engaged  a  packet,  and  the  next  morning  [March  24th] 
we  take  a  wagon  and  cross  over  to  Helvoetsluys.  The 
weather  is  very  warm,  the  violets  are  in  full  bloom,  and  I 
pick  up  on  a  slope  of  the  works  which  faces  the  sun  a 
mushroom  very  large,  but  too  old  to  be  eaten.  We  dis 
appoint  our  host  in  not  dining  with  him,  and  in  taking 
one  bottle  only  of  his  wine  for  our  sea-stores.  Set  sail 
with  a  wind  directly  ahead  and  the  tide  almost  done,  con 
sequently  with  but  little  prospect  of  getting  to  sea  this 
evening.  At  low-water  it  falls  calm,  and  we  cast  anchor 
about  two  leagues  below  Helvoet.  Captain  Bridges  seems 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  309 

to  be  a  good-natured,  honest  fellow  ;  his  mate,  with  a  sour 
though  not  sober  countenance,  looks  ineffable  contempt  at 
the  passengers  ;  I  suppose,  because  they  are  not  seamen. 
A  fine  evening  closes  this  day." 

Fifty  hours  after  sailing  Morris  was  landed  safely  at 
Harwich  on  Saturday,  March  27th,  whence  he  proceeded 
immediately  to  London.  "  The  season  here,"  he  says,  "is 
very  far  advanced.  The  primroses,  the  violets,  and  many 
fruit-trees  are  in  full  bloom.  The  rape-seed,  also,  is  in 
blossom.  Arrive  at  five  o'clock  at  Froome's  Hotel,  Covent 
Garden.  Go  to  bed  at  ten  o'clock,  and  am  but  just  fairly 
nestled  there,  when  my  brother,  General  Morris,  arrives. 
My  sister  is  also  at  the  door,  but  does  not  come  in.  The 
object  was  to  take  me  home  to  supper.  Am  to  breakfast 
with  them  at  ten  to-morrow." 

"This  morning  [March  28th],  at  ten,  I  go  to  General 
Morris's.  A  very  sisterly  reception  from  his  lady.  Stay 
and  chat  till  near  twelve,  then  visit  the  Marquis  de  la  Lu- 
zerne,  ambassador  from  France.  He  tells  me  the  news 
from  Paris,  and  in  reply  to  my  question  of  who  is  to  re 
place  Necker,  he  says  that  the  story  of  his  going  away  is 
all  fabricated  by  Calonne.  I  tell  him  that  I  am  persuaded 
that  he  will  quit,  and  that  I  do  not  consider  it  as  a  mis 
fortune.  I  find,  however,  that  he  is  much  an  advocate  of 
M.  Necker  and  his  measures.  This  is  extraordinary,  for 
he  has,  I  think,  good  sense  enough  to  see  the  faults  which 
have  been  committed.  Call  on  the  Duke  of  Leeds,  who  is 
not  at  home  ;  leave  a  card  and  tell  the  porter  I  will  write 
a  note.  Go  to  the  Due  de  Luxembourg's  ;  admitted 
with  difficulty  ;  his  son  receives  the  letter  with  which  I 
am  charged  by  his  brother,  the  Duke  being  in  bed.  Re 
turn  home  ;  write  a  note  to  the  Duke  of  Leeds,  asking  to 
know  the  time  when  it  will  be  most  convenient  for  his 
grace  to  receive  certain  communications  which  Mr.  Morris 


310  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

is  desired  to  make  in  a  semi-official  capacity  to  His  Majes 
ty's  ministers  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  Go  to  the  French  ambassador's  to  dinner. 
The  Vicomtesse  says  she  has  a  great  deal  to  say  about  the 
affairs  of  France  when  she  sees  me  with  less  company. 
Return  home,  and  find  a  note  from  the  Duke  of  Leeds, 
giving  me  a  rendez-vous  for  to-morrow  at  half-past  two. 
I  told  the  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne  this  morning  that  I  was 
directed  to  call  on  the  ministry  here  for  a  performance  of 
the  treaty,  and  enjoined  him  to  secrecy.  (He  told  it  every 
where.)  I  think  it  prudent  to  be  in  a  situation  to  say  al 
ways  to  the  French  Court  that  every  step  taken  by  us  has 
been  with  their  privity." 

"  Monday  [March  29th],  at  the  appointed  hour  I  go  to 
Whitehall,  and  communicate  to  the  Duke  of  Leeds*  Wash 
ington's  letter  to  me.  He  expresses  himself  with  some 
warmth  of  approbation.  *  I  am  very  happy,  Mr.  Morris, 
to  see  this  letter,  and  under  the  President's  own  hand.  I 
assure  you  it  is  very  much  my  wish  to  cultivate  a  friendly 
and  commercial  intercourse  between  the  two  countries, 
and  more,  and  I  can  answer  for  the  rest  of  His  Majesty's 
servants  that  they  are  of  the  same  opinion.'  '  I  am  very 
happy,  my  Lord,  to  find  that  such  sentiments  prevail,  for 
we  are  too  near  neighbors  not  to  be  either  very  good 
friends  or  very  dangerous  enemies.'  After  more  profes 
sions  from  him  I  mention  the  points  of  the  treaty  which 
remain  to  be  performed,  and  observe  that,  by  the  Consti- 

*  In  October,  1789,  Washington  wrote  to  Morris,  and  desired  him,  in  "  the 
capacity  of  private  agent  and  on  the  authority  and  credit  of  this  letter,  to  con 
verse  with  His  Britannic  Majesty's  ministers  on  these  points  ;  viz.,  whether 
there  be  any,  and  what  objections  to  performing  those  articles  in  the  treaty 
which  remain  to  be  performed  on  his  part,  and  whether  they  incline  to  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  the  United  States  on  any,  and  what  terms?  "  The 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  being  at  this  time  unfilled,  Washington,  to  avoid 
delays,  made  this  communication  under  his  own  hand.  This  letter  is  the  one 
referred  to  in  Morris's  interview  with  the  Duke  of  Leeds. 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  311 

tution  of  the  United  States,  which  he  has  certainly  read, 
all  obstacles  to  the  recovery  of  British  debts  are  removed, 
and  that  if  any  doubt  could  have  remained  it  is  now  obvi 
ated  by  the  organization  of  a  Federal  court  which  has  cog 
nizance  of  all  causes  arising  under  the  treaty.  He  is  very 
happy  to  receive  this  information.  I  then  mention  that  I 
believe  there  are  two  points  which  remain  to  be  fulfilled 
on  their  part  :  viz.,  as  to  the  Posts  and  compensation  for 
negroes  taken  away ;  that  perhaps,  as  to  the  first,  they  may 
have  sent  out  orders  since  the  President's  letter  was  writ 
ten.  He  does  not  exactly  know  the  situation.  As  to  the 
last,  he  had  long  wished  that  something  had  been  done, 
but  something  or  another  had  always  interfered.  He 
changed  the  conversation,  which  I  bring  back,  and  which 
he  changes  again.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  he  is  at 
present  confined  to  general  assurances.  I  tell  him  that 
there  was  a  little  circumstance  which  operated  very  disa 
greeably  in  America.  He  interrupts  me  :  '  I  know  what 
you  are  going  to  speak  about,  our  not  sending  out  a  min 
ister.  I  wished  to  send  you  one,  but  then  I  wished  to 
have  a  man  everyway  equal  to  the  task,  a  man  of  abilities, 
and  one  agreeable  to  the  people  of  America,  but  it  was 
difficult;  it  is  a  great  way  off.'  'My  Lord,  you  cannot 
want  men  well  qualified,  and  I  am  certain  that  there  are 
many  who  will  be  glad  to  accept  it.'  He  again  changes 
the  conversation.  I  therefore  observe  that  he  will  prob 
ably  choose  to  consider  this  matter  a  little,  and  to  examine 
the  American  Constitution,  the  treaty  of  peace,  etc.  He 
says  that  he  should.  I  tell  him  that  I  shall  be  glad  to 
receive  his  answer  as  speedily  as  may  be.  He  promises 
despatch.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  he  mentioned 
a  letter  he  had  written  to  Mr.  Adams,  in  which  he  ex 
pressed  the  opinion  that  the  performance  of  the  treaty 
should  be  article  by  article,  as  they  stood  in  order.  I  re- 


312  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

ply  that  my  private  opinion  had  always  been  that  it  would 
be  proper  for  us  to  execute  the  treaty  fully  on  our  part, 
and  then  call  for  execution  by  them,  for  that  if  each  were 
to  delay  until  the  other  should  act,  all  treaties  would  be 
illusory.  He  agreed  in  the  propriety  of  the  observation. 
I  left  [Washington's]  letter  with  him,  which  he  is  to  have 
copied  and  returned." 

"Mr.  Church  engages  me  to  dine  with  him  on  Friday 
[March  3oth],  enfamille.  He  goes  to  find  Charles  Fox  and 
ask  him  to  meet  me." 

The  following  sprightly  society  letter  Morris  de 
spatched  to  Mr.  Short  at  Paris,  to  be  by  him  shown  to 
the  disconsolate  fair  ones  he  had  left  behind,  and  who 
complained  of  his  silence.  "Place  me  before  them  grace 
fully,"  he  wrote,  "and  assure  them  that  they  can  at  least 
own  that  it  is  only  in  my  absence  that  such  complaints  can 
have  any  foundation.  But  truth  is  that  I  did  not  like  to 
write  through  Flanders,  because  the  government  are  by 
no  means  deficient  in  curiosity  and  not  over-delicate  in 
the  means  of  satisfying  it.  I  hereby  authorize  you,  how 
ever,  to  say  for  me  all  which  I  ought  to  say  and  to  do  all 
which  I  ought  to  do.  I  would  deputize  you  to  the  hand 
ling  of  Madame  de  C 's  tea-pot,  but,  since  everything 

now  goes  by  election,  I  cannot  hazard  such  encroachment 
upon  the  droits  de  r/iomme.  Be  persuaded,  however,  of  my 
perfectly  good  wishes  that  you  may  be  found  worthy  to 
fill  the  department.  You  will  lay  me  at  the  feet  of  her 
R.  H.  Happy  position  !  there  to  kneel  and  there  adore. 
Assure  her  of  my  lowliest  worshippings.  To  the  charm 
ing  Comtesse  de  S ,  try  to  say  what  I  have  often  felt 

but  could  never  express.  In  Madame  d'H — det — t's  cir 
cle,  give  every  assurance  which  may  be  proper ;  I  hold 
myself  bound  in  honor  not  to  belie  you.  Madame  de  La- 
b will,  I  hope,  always  believe  in  my  respectful  ad- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  313 

miration.  You  will  see  then  Madame  de  F ,  to  whom 

present  my  remembrances.  Supply  on  every  occasion 
my  omissions,  and  command  me  under  similar  circum 
stances.  I  will  obey  as  well  as  I  can." 

"  The  French  ambassador  tells  rne  the  news  from  Paris 
to-day  [April  ist]  at  dinner.  Things  are  going  on  badly. 
The  Assembly  have  reiterated  to  the  King  their  refusal  to 
comply  with  his  wish  to  choose  a  treasury  board  out  of 
their  body.  The  pointed  opposition  to  M.  Necker  be 
comes  now  manifest.  He  seems  much  affected  by  the  situ 
ation  of  things,  and  tells  me  that  within  the  last  six  months 
they  have  done  much  evil,  in  which  sentiment  I  cordially 
agree.  The  Duchesse  de  Biron  is  here  and  Madame  de 
Boufflers,  to  which  last  I  present  remembrances  from  the 
Marechal  de  Segur,  but  I  believe  I  have  mistaken  the  per 
son  who  gave  me  that  commission." 

"Visit  Sir  John  Sinclair  [April  4th],  from  whom  I  re 
ceived  a  note  last  evening  requesting  it.  Various  conver 
sation.  Just  before  I  come  away  I  ask  him  whether  they 
have  made  any  alteration  in  their  American  trade  bill  and 
intercourse  bill.  He  says  they  have  not.  I  ask  what  are 
their  intentions  on  that  subject.  He  says  they  are  of 
opinion  that  trade  can  best  regulate  itself.  I  smile,  and  tell 
him  that  I  am  very  much  of  the  same  opinion,  but  that  con 
sistently  with  it  we  should  abstain  from  all  restrictions." 

Almost  as  a  Frenchman  Morris  mourned  over  the  con 
dition  of  France,  as  he  saw  how  feeble  her  men  were, 
how  little  fitted  for  the  task  suddenly  imposed  upon  them. 
In  the  following  letters  to  Colonel  Ternant  and  Mr.  Short, 
who  were  both  in  Paris,  he  expresses  his  feelings  very 
forcibly.  "The  present  moment,"  he  wrote  to  Colonel 
Ternant,  "teems  with  great  events.  Would  to  God  that, 
in  a  certain  city  which  you  have  sometimes  seen,  there 
were  great  men  established  to  meet  with  proper  dignity 


314  DIARY   AND    LETTERS  OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

the  greatness  of  those  incidents  which  will  be  hourly  pro 
duced."  And  later,  writing  to  Mr.  Short,  he  says  :  "I  have 
very  little  doubt  in  my  mind  either  as  to  the  progress  or 
event  of  things  in  France.  Early  in  July  I  formed  event 
ual  opinions,  and  events  in  August  and  early  in  Septem 
ber  rendered  them  absolute.  Hitherto  facts  have  shown 
them  to  be  just.  If  the  two  hundred  millions  given  to  the 
municipality  of  Paris  were  what  they  are  supposed  to  be, 
value t  the  consequences  you  fear  might  take  effect,  but  they 
are  among  those  things  whose  ultimate  basis  resolves  itself 
into  opinion,  and  opinion  cannot  be  restored  until  they 
shall  have  undone  much  of  what  they  have  done,  and  done 
many  things  of  different  complexion.  Among  those  who 
are  now  at  the  helm  there  is  neither  the  mind  to  conceive, 
the  heart  to  dare,  nor  the  hand  to  execute  such  things. 
They  will  therefore  continue  to  pile  up  system  upon  sys 
tem,  without  advancing  one  inch.  The  dreadful  primeval 
curse  is  repeated  upon  them  all.  Paper  thou  art,  and  unto 
paper  shalt  thou  return.  I  deeply  bemoan  these  things, 
for  I  love  France  sincerely.  ...  It  was  not  from 
what  I  found  in  Amsterdam  that  I  was  deterred  from 
pursuing  the  propositions  to  M.  Necker,  but  the  convic 
tion  that  his  expectations  have  been  so  raised  as  to  shut 
his  ears  to  anything  which  could  with  safety  be  proposed, 
and  I  have  not  enough  of  the  knight-errant  in  my  com 
position  to  go  beyond  that  line." 

"  If  I  am  not  mistaken,"  the  diary  continues,  "  it  will  be 
proper  to  be  intimate  at  the  French  ambassador's,  to  a 
certain  point.  At  dinner  to-day  we  have  a  long  conversa 
tion  on  the  state  of  French  politics.  He  tells  me  that  he 
thinks  Lafayette  and  M.  Necker  ought  to  coalesce,  as  the 
only  means  of  saving  France.  I  tell  him  that  his  idea 
may  be  good,  but  I  am  sure  it  will  not  take  effect.  He 
asks  if  Mr.  Jefferson  was  not  much  consulted  in  the  be- 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  315 

ginning  of  the  Revolution.  I  tell  him  that  I  believe  he 
was,  and  fear  that  his  ideas  were  in  many  respects  too 
democratical.  He  speaks  of  Jefferson  with  much  con 
tempt  as  a  statesman  and  as  one  who  is  better  formed  for 
the  interior  of  Virginia  than  to  influence  the  operations 
of  a  great  people.  I  own  that  I  am  rather  surprised  at 
this  sentiment,  because  Mr.  Jefferson  has  in  general  ex 
cited  favorable  ideas  of  his  intellectual  faculties.  Go 
from  hence  to  Mrs.  Low's  rout ;  a  number  of  Americans 
there.  Among  the  guests  is  Mrs.  Mallet,  who  still  looks 
toward  triumph,  and  has  a  less  unnatural  manner  than 
she  had  about  fifteen  years  ago.  She  seems  not  unwilling 
to  extend  her  dominion,  but  this  will  not  do  for  me." 

"A  pretty  numerous  company  at  Sir  John  Sinclair's  to 
day  [April  pth]  at  dinner — chiefly  literati,  I  believe.  A 
Mr.  Irwin  of  the  customs,  a  statesman,  is,  I  find,  decidedly 
opposed  to  America,  and  he  is,  if  an  enemy,  a  dangerous 
one,  because  he  can  always  produce  just  such  matter  as  he 
pleases.  At  present  his  hobby-horse  is  to  force  the  people 
of  this  island,  even  by  starvation,  to  raise  as  much  corn  as 
they  want.  I  foolishly  enter  into  a  little  argument  with 
him  on  that  subject;  'twould  have  been  better  to  let  him 
enjoy  his  opinions,  and  to  inculcate  them.  What  I  say  turns 
upon  the  point  that  the  labor  applied  to  husbandry  cannot 
so  certainly  insure  its  object  as  that  employed  upon  manu 
factures.  The  favorable  or  unfavorable  season  will  de 
cide  on  the  harvest,  in  spite  of  all  human  endeavors." 

"Mr.  R.  Penn  tells  me  [April  nth]  that  he  thinks  it 
probable  I  shall  be  appointed  minister  to  this  Court.  I 
tell  him  that  if  I  express  an  opinion,  it  will  be  not  to  ap 
point  a  minister.  He  expresses  his  surprise  at  this  senti 
ment,  which  I  justify  on  the  ground  that  their  present 
rulers  do  not  wish  to  form  a  connection  with  America. 
Go  from  hence  to  Mr.  Church's.  They  are  just  got  back ; 


3l6  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP,  XIV. 

he  is  from  Newmarket,  where  he  has  lost  money.  I  prom 
ise  to  meet  Charles  Fox  at  dinner  on  Saturday.  Visit 
Lady  Tancred.  She  seems  more  indebted  for  her  beauties 
to  art  than  I  had  imagined  at  the  first  view.  I  learn  that 
she  is  sister  to  my  old  friend  General  Montgomery." 

"  General  Morris  calls  on  me  this  morning  [April  i6th] 
to  inform  me  of  a  mechanic  who  can  make  wooden  legs 
very  well.  I  desire  that  he  may  call  on  me  to-morrow. 
At  half-past  two  Mr.  Penn  calls,  and  dines.  We  then  go 
down  to  the  House  of  Commons.  He  endeavors  to  pro 
cure  admission  for  me  under  the  galleries  as  a  foreigner, 
which  the  speaker  refuses,  because  I  have  not  been  pre 
sented  at  Court.  Madame  de  la  Luzerne  showed  me  this 
evening  a  letter  from  her  mother,  or  mother-in-law,  men 
tioning  that  M.  Necker  was  to  be  denounced  to  the  Na 
tional  Assembly,  and  that  both  parties  are  violent  against 
him.  She  tells  me  also  that  Lafayette  is  opposed  to  him. 
This  I  knew  before,  but  appeared  not  to  know  it,  and  even 
endeavored  to  account  for  it  on  a  supposition  that  they 
may  have  differed  lately  about  the  taking  of  a  board  of 
treasury  out  of  the  National  Assembly.  My  friend  the 
Marquis  de  la  Luzerne  is  violently  opposed,  I  find,  to  the 
Assembly,  but  in  favor  of  M.  Necker.  Return  home  be 
tween  twelve  and  one,  and  sit  some  time  reading  the  livre 
rouge  which  M.  Barthelemi  gave  me  the  perusal  of  this 
afternoon." 

"This  morning  [April  iyth]  after  breakfast  a  mechanic 
arrives  who  is  to  make  a  leg.  Upon  examination  of  the 
stump  he  says  that  I  shall  be  able  to  take  the  benefit  of 
the  knee-joint.  If  this  be  so  it  will  certainly  be  an  im 
provement,  but  he  acknowledges  that  the  machinery  will 
be  less  solid  than  the  simple  stick  which  I  now  use." 
Morris  met  Charles  James  Fox  at  dinner  this  evening  at 
Mr.  Church's.  "Mr.  Fox,"  he  says,  "does  not  arrive  till 


I79Q.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  3 1/ 

seven.  He  has  been  detained  by  the  Duke  of  York.  We 
sat  pretty  late  after  dinner,  and  I  observe  that  Mr.  Fox 
scrutinizes  me  closely  to  see  what  I  am.  I  give  him  all 
opportunity  for  that  purpose.  His  manners  are  simple. 
He  speaks  lightly  of  Chatham,  who,  says  he,  was  a  fortu 
nate  man,  and  that  the  successes  in  the  war  were  to  be  attrib 
uted  to  a  measure  of  his  father's,  which  was  the  capture 
of  the  French  ships  and  seamen  before  the  Declaration  ;  I 
observe  that  it  was  also  to  be  attributed  to  the  great  force 
sent  out  to  America  by  Lord  Chatham.  In  the  course  of 
conversation  I  ask  him  what  system  the  present  adminis 
tration  have  with  respect  to  America.  He  says  that  he 
thinks  they  have  not  as  yet  adopted  any ;  that  he  does  not 
imagine  Mr.  Pitt  will  take  any  trouble  about  the  matter, 
but  will  leave  it  to  Lord  Hawkesbury  and  Mr.  Grenville, 
who  are  both  of  them  indisposed  to  us,  whereas  Pitt  him 
self  is  rather  friendly  than  otherwise.  I  ask  him  the  char 
acter  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds.  He  speaks  of  him  contemptu 
ously,  but  says  he  takes  upon  himself  a  little  lately.  He 
says  that  he  and  Burke  are  now  almost  alone  in  their 
opinion  that  we  should  be  permitted  to  trade  in  our  own 
bottoms  to  their  islands ;  that  this  opinion  loses  ground 
daily,  though  for  his  part  he  persists  in  it.  I  tell  him  that 
it  is  a  solid  principle  of  policy,  for  that  our  position  ren 
ders  the  islands  so  materially  dependent  on  us  that  they 
should  make  it  our  interest  to  keep  them  in  possession  ; 
that  further,  if  we  choose  to  lay  them  under  disadvan 
tages  in  our  ports,  we  can  materially  injure  their  naviga 
tion,  whereas  the  admission  of  our  vessels  into  their  isl 
ands  can  do  them  no  harm  in  that  respect.  All  this  is 
true,  but  I  suspect  that  we  shall  be  obliged  in  America  to 
give  them  the  conviction  of  their  senses." 

"  This    morning    [April    2oth]    I   go  immediately  after 
breakfast  to  a  leg-maker  and  have  my  right  leg  taken  in 


318  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIV. 

plaster  of  Paris,  as  a  model  by  which  to  make  the  left  leg 
of  copper.  By  the  awkwardness  of  the  workman  I  am 
long  detained,  and  obliged  to  have  a  second  copy  made  ; 
in  fact,  he  has  not  one  needful  thing,  which  is  a  box  for 
taking  the  model  by.  Get  a  model  made  of  the  stump 
also,  so  as  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  frequent  sittings  to 
have  the  cushions  fitted.  I  am  detained  under  these  op 
erations  until  after  four  o'clock.  Dress,  and  go  to  the 
French  ambassador's  to  dine.  A  young  gentleman  is 
there  who  I  have  often  seen  at  the  Baron  de  Besenval's. 
He  is  just  arrived  ;  he  came  in  company  with  Mr.  Crosby. 
That  circle  are  all  in  good  health.  I  find  that  the  debates 
have  been  very  outrageous  in  Paris,  and  things  seem  to  be 
verging  fast  towards  change." 

"  To-day  [April  23d]  I  dine  with  my  brother,  General 
Morris.  The  company  are  a  Lady  Cundliffe,  with  her 
daughters,  Mrs.  Drummond  Smith  and  Miss  Cundliffe  ; 
the  Marquis  of  Huntly,  Lord  Eglinton,  General  Murry, 
Mr.  Drummond  Smith  (who,  they  tell  me,  is  one  of  the 
richest  commoners  in  England),  and  Colonel  Morrison  of 
the  Guards.  After  dinner  there  is  a  great  deal  of  com 
pany  collected  in  the  drawing-room,  to  some  of  whom  I 
am  presented  ;  the  Ladies  Hays,  who  are  very  handsome, 
Lady  Tancred  and  her  sister,  and  Miss  Byron  are  here, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Montresor.  I  am  particularly  presented 
to  Colonel  Morrison,  who  is  the  quartermaster-general 
of  this  kingdom,  and  whose  daughter  also  is  here.  She 
has  a  fine,  expressive  countenance,  and  is,  they  tell  me, 
of  such  a  romantic  turn  of  mind  as  to  have  refused 
many  good  offers  of  marriage  because  she  did  not  like  the 
men.  I  have  some  little  conversation  with  Mrs.  Smith 
after  dinner.  She  appears  to  have  good  dispositions  for 
making  a  friendly  connection,  as  far  as  one  may  venture  to 
judge  by  the  glance  of  the  eye.  Visit  Mrs.  Cosway,  and 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  319 

find  here  Lady  Townsend,  with  her  daughter-in-law  and 
daughter.  The  conversation  here  (as,  indeed,  everywhere 
else)  turns  on  the  man  (or  rather  monster)  who  for  several 
days  past  has  amused  himself  with  cutting  and  wounding 
women  in  the  streets.  One  unhappy  victim  of  his  in 
human  rage  is  dead.  Go  from  hence  to  Drury  Lane  Thea 
tre.  The  pieces  we  went  to  see  were  not  acted,  but  in 
stead,  'Twelfth  Night'  and  'The  Spoiled  Child.'  This 
last  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  Mrs.  Jordan.  She 
plays  excellently  in  it,  and  so,  indeed,  she  does  in  the  prin 
cipal  piece." 

"  Two  tickets  have  been  given  me  for  the  trial  of  Warren 
Hastings.  Call  upon  La  Caze  [April  29th],  and  take  him 
with  me.  We  wait  till  past  two  before  the  Lords  come 
down,  and  then,  after  a  decision  against  the  managers  upon 
a  former  question,  much  time  is  consumed  in  complaint 
against  that  decision.  A  witness  being  then  called  up 
and  a  question  proposed  to  him,  an  objection  is  raised  by 
the  counsel  as  being  within  the  decision  just  delivered.  A 
long  argument  on  this  subject  from  the  managers,  which 
the  counsel  very  properly  reply  to  by  their  silence,  and,  the 
opinion  of  the  Lords  being  clear,  the  question  is  given  up 
without  a  formal  declaration  of  that  opinion.  Shortly 
after,  another  question  is  proposed  to  the  witness,  which  is 
objected  to,  and  hereupon  arises  a  serious  argument.  The 
speakers  this  day  are  Burke  and  Fox.  The  former  has 
quickness  and  genius,  but  he  is  vague,  loose,  desultory, 
and  confused.  Mr.  Fox  has  not  the  needful  self-possession 
to  make  a  great  speaker.  He  is  obliged  to  abstract  him 
self  so  much  in  pursuit  of  the  matter  that  he  is  extremely 
deficient  in  manner.  He  is  a  slovenly  speaker,  but  he  is 
acute  and  discerns  well.  He  does  not  sufficiently  convey 
to  others  the  distinctions  which  he  feels  ;  his  mind  appears 
like  a  clouded  sun,  and  this  I  believe  results  from  the  life 


320  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIV, 

he  leads.  Temperance,  application,  and  the  possession  of 
competence  with  moderation  to  enjoy  it,  would  render 
him  very  great,  if  unhappily  his  faculties  be  not  at  that 
point  when  a  continuation  of  former  habits  becomes  neces 
sary  to  keep  them  alive.  Go  to  my  lodgings  and  dress, 
read  my  letters,  and  then  (but  with  no  proper  emotions  for 
that  scene)  go  to  Mrs.  Church's  ball.  Things  here  are 
really  magnificent  and  well  conducted.  The  royal  broth 
ers  and  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  are  among  the  guests.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans  also  is  here,  with  whom  I  exchange  a  few  words, 
and  converse  a  good  deal  with  his  two  brothers,  just  arrived 
from  Paris.  See  Mrs.  Darner  and  several  other  people 
whom  I  had  before  seen.  On  the  whole,  the  manner  of 
these  persons  is  very  well,  considering  the  haughty  cold 
ness  of  the  nation  and  that  I  am  an  American.  Stay  till 
after  three,  and  then  take  Mr.  Low  home.  When  I  get 
home  it  is  broad  daylight." 


J79o.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  321 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Reticence  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds.  Morris's  letter  to  the  duke.  Letter  to 
Washington.  Undertakes  to  negotiate  for  the  sale  of  American  es 
tates.  Miss  Farren.  The  impressment  of  American  seamen.  In 
terview  with  the  Duke  of  Leeds.  Presented  to  Pitt.  Long  interview 
with  Pitt  and  the  Duke  of  Leeds  relative  to  the  treaty  of  commerce, 
non-payment  of  money  due  by  the  English  Government  to  American 
land-owners,  evacuation  of  the  frontier-posts,  etc.  The  Hastings 
trial.  News  from  Paris.  The  National  Assembly  vote  the  king  an 
allowance.  Abolition  of  the  nobility.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  in  a 
"  whimsical  "  situation.  Great  fete  of  the  federation.  Letter  to  Wil 
liam  Short  at  Paris.  Strictures  on  the  young  men  of  London.  Rise 
of  the  Jacobins  in  Paris.  Lafayette's  position  insecure. 

IT  was  now  late  in  April,  and  still  the  Duke  of  Leeds 
maintained  a  profound  silence  upon  the  subject  of 
the  conversation  Morris  had  held  with  him,  nor  had 
he  returned  the  copy  of  the  President's  letter.  "  I  am 
still  waiting,"  Morris  wrote  to  Washington  on  the  28th, 
"for  intelligence  from  the  ministers,  who  (to  judge  by 
appearances)  slumber  profoundly  upon  the  application 
made  to  them.  It  was  not  until  the  28th  of  April,  and 
after  several  notes  had  been  sent  to  jog  his  memory,  that 
the  duke  consented  to  notice  Morris  or  his  affairs.  He 
then  pleaded  indisposition  as  the  excuse  for  his  long 
delay. 

Morris  in  his  reply  [April  3oth]  expressed  himself  as 
happy  to  receive  from  such  "  respectable  authority"  the 
sincere  wish  of  England  to  fulfil  her  engagements  with 
the  United  States  "in  a  manner  consistent  with  the  most 
scrupulous  fidelity  ; "  though  this  had  never  admitted  of 

21 


322  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

question  in  his  mind,  and  he  assured  his  grace  of  his  con 
viction  of  the  determination  of  the  United  States  to  per 
form  in  the  fullest  manner  every  stipulation  which  they 
had  made.  He  entreated  of  his  grace's  goodness  to  inform 
him  in  what  respect,  and  to  what  degree,  lie  considered  the 
final  completion  of  those  engagements  to  which  the  United 
States  were  bound  as  having  been  rendered  impracticable, 
this  being  to  him  a  new  idea.  He  further  asked  his  grace 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  redress  expected  for  British 
subjects  upon  the  specific  points  of  the  treaty.  On  the 
subject  of  a  commercial  treaty  between  the  countries, 
Morris  expressed  a  sincere  hope  that  he  might  be  mistaken 
in  supposing  that  his  grace  showed  a  disinclination  to  se 
curing  an  amiable  intercourse  by  the  force  of  a  treaty,  and 
assured  him  how  unhappy  he  should  be  to  convey  a  false 
impression  on  this  subject,  which  might  be  prejudicial  to 
both  countries.  He  begged,  therefore,  that  he  might  be 
set  right. 

The  following  letter  to  Washington  was  sent,  with 
Morris's  full  reply  to  the  Duke  of  Leeds,  of  which  a  sum 
mary  only  is  given  above.  "I  must  rely,"  he  wrote,  "on 
your  kindness  both  to  interpret  favorably  what  I  have 
done,  and  to  excuse  my  omissions.  I  thought  it  best  to 
heap  coals  of  fire  on  their  heads,  and  thereby  either  bring 
them  into  our  views  or  put  them  most  eminently  in  the 
wrong.  It  was,  moreover,  my  wish  to  draw  forth  specific 
propositions,  because  these  will  admit  of  discussion,  or  else, 
if  manifestly  unjust,  they  can  not  only  be  repelled,  but  they 
will  serve  to  show  a  predetermined  breach  of  faith  by  them 
which  will  justify  whatever  conduct  we  may  afterwards  find 
it  proper  to  adopt.  I  have  some  reason  to  believe  that 
the  present  administration  intends  to  keep  the  posts  and 
withhold  payment  for  the  negroes.  If  so,  they  will  cover 
their  breach  of  faith  by  the  best  pretexts  in  their  power. 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  323 

I  incline  to  think  also  that  they  consider  a  treaty  of  com 
merce  with  America  as  being  absolutely  unnecessary,  and 
that  they  are  persuaded  they  shall  derive  all  benefit  from 
our  trade  without  treaty.  In  the  matter  of  treaties  very 
much  will,  I  think,  depend  upon  the  situation  of  France. 
From  the  conduct  of  the  aristocratic  hierarchy  in  the  Low 
Countries,  who  are  instigated  and  supported  by  Prussia, 
I  have  long  been  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  alternative 
of  war  or  the  most  ignominious  terms  of  peace  would  be 
proposed  to  the  Imperial  Courts.  Counting  upon  the  ab 
solute  nullity  of  France,  and  supposing  that  this  country 
can  at  any  moment  intimidate  that  into  abject  submission, 
Prussia  and  Poland  will,  I  think,  join  themselves  to  Tur 
key  and  Sweden  against  Russia  and  Austria,  which  are 
both  exhausted  and  one  of  them  dismembered.  Probably 
the  war  will  be  commenced  before  the  letter  reaches  your 
hands,  and  then  Britain  and  Holland  are  to  be  the  umpires 
or,  rather,  dictators  of  peace.  Perhaps  there  never  was  a 
moment  in  which  this  country  found  herself  greater,  and 
consequently  it  is  the  most  unfavorable  moment  to  obtain 
advantageous  terms  from  her  in  any  bargain.  It  appears 
clearly  that  the  favorable  moment  for  us  to  treat  is  not  yet 
come.  It  is  indeed  the  moment  for  this  country,  and  they 
seem  determined  to  let  it  pass  away." 

"This  afternoon  [May  2d],  at  the  poets'  gallery  of  paint 
ings,  I  have  pointed  out  to  me  Lord  Derby  and  Miss  Far- 
ren,  who  are  to  be  married  as  soon  as  Lady  Derby  will 
make  her  exit.  Miss  Farren  is  one  of  the  Drury  Lane 
company  of  comedians." 

One  of  the  most  arduous  of  Morris's  undertakings  for 
his  friends  in  America  was  to  negotiate  in  London  and 
Paris  for  the  sale  of  their  respective  estates,  in  various 
parts  of  the  United  States.  There  was,  of  course,  a  general 
feeling  of  distrust  of  a  country  so  far  away  and  so  uncul- 


324  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

tivated,  and  a  desire  to  be  thoroughly  indemnified  for 
losses.  Writing  to  Robert  Morris  of  the  difficulties  he  en 
countered  in  this  effort,  he  says  :  "  What  can  I  offer  those 
who  may  wish  to  purchase  ?  Money  I  have  not.  Personal 
security  in  this  country  I  have  not.  In  America  they  will 
not  take  it,  and  if  I  propose  a  mortgage  of  the  premises 
they  may  reply  that  these  they  have  already.  As  to  the 
Fairfax  estate,  it  is  somewhat  differently  circumstanced, 
but  even  respecting  it,  I  expect  that  if  I  can  see  and  con 
verse  with  Mr.  Martin,  he  will  insist  on  security  here."  * 
As  in  Paris,  so  more  or  less  in  London,  Morris's  ad 
vice  was  constantly  asked  about  purchases  in  America,  but 
he  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  bring  anyone  to  the 
point  of  a  purchase. 

"  Sir  John  Miller  is  at  Mr.  Wilmots'  to-night  [May  5th], 
and  he  tells  me  that  great  fortunes  have  been  made  by 
borrowing  money  and  purchasing  estates  in  Ireland,  which 
yield  an  interest  of  five  percent,  upon  the  purchase  money 
till  the  old  leases  fall  in,  and  then  yield  twice  and  three 
times  as  much.  He  has  himself  speculated  in  this  way  to 
the  amount  of  ^20,000.  In  conversation  he  describes  the 

*  The  effort  to  purchase  Fairfax  lands  was  simply  a  speculation  on  Mor 
ris's  part.  It  was  after  the  death  of  the  sixth  Lord  Fairfax,  the  recluse  of 
Greenway  Court  in  Virginia,  when  the  State  of  Virginia  had  passed  acts  of 
confiscation  of  all  his  lordship's  lands,  as  well  as  of  his  lord  proprietorship. 
The  acts  recited  that  the  confiscation  was  made  because  the  title  to  them 
had  descended  to  an  alien  enemy,  his  brother  Robert,  the  seventh  lord. 
Afterward  it  was  insisted  that  the  title  of  the  Fairfax  heirs  in  the  lands  which 
the  sixth  Lord  Fairfax  had  appropriated  to  himself  in  severalty,  either  by 
deeds  made  to  himself  as  lord  proprietor,  or  by  surveys  or  other  acts,  indi 
cating  his  intention  to  appropriate  them  to  himself  individually,  should  be 
allowed  by  the  State,  which  was  done  by  an  act  of  legislature,  procured  to 
be  passed  by  John  Marshall,  afterward  chief  justice,  and  who  had  himself  be 
come  a  purchaser  of  a  considerable  tract  of  these  lands.  After  that  act  of 
legislature  was  passed,  Dr.  Denny  Martin  Fairfax,  of  Leeds  Castle,  nephew 
of  the  sixth  lord,  sold  all  of  those  lands  which  had  not  been  previously  sold. 
In  1789  Robert,  seventh  Lord  Fairfax,  was  still  alive.  There  was  no  Conclu 
sion  arrived  at  in  the  negotiation  in  which  Morris  was  interested. 


I79Q.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  325 

situation  of  a  gentleman  in  the  country  here  as  far  from 
agreeable,  if  he  resides  anywhere  in  the  neighborhood  of 
a  peer  or  a  great  commoner,  '  because,'  says  he,  '  such  per 
son  must  either  be  the  humble  servant  of  the  great  man  or 
must  be  borne  down  by  his  opposition,  in  all  parish  and 
county  meetings  and  in  everything  which  relates  to  the 
roads.'  To-night,  when  I  come  in,  I  find  on  my  table  an  in 
vitation  from  Mrs.  Church  to  breakfast  to-morrow  at  twelve. 
I  write  the  following  answer  : 

Dear  Madame,  believe  me,  'tis  not  without  sorrow 

I  do  not  partake  of  your  breakfast  to-morrow  ; 

So  kind  a  request  it  is  hard  to  refuse, 

But  an  envious  Demon  my  pleasures  pursues, 

Resolved,  with  the  blasts  of  cold  duty,  to  blight 

The  blossoms  of  joy  and  the  buds  of  delight. 

To-morrow,  laborious,  I  write  all  the  day, 

To  friends  who  are  far  o'er  the  water  away, 

Who  dwell  on  that  soil  to  your  bosom  so  dear, 

Which  so  oft  from  your  eye  draws  the  filial  tear  ; 

That  dear  natal  soil,  Freedom's  favorite  child, 

Where  bliss  flows  spontaneous  and  virtue  grows  wild, 

Where  nature,  disdaining  the  efforts  of  art, 

Gives  grace  to  the  form  and  gives  worth  to  the  heart. 

In  plain  prose,  the  packet  sails  to-morrow  night  and  I 
must  write.' " 

"  Dine  to-day  [May  6th]  with  the  French  ambassador. 
When  dinner  is  half  over  two  of  his  family  come  in  from 
the  House  of  Commons,  where  the  debate  was  animated, 
although  they  were  all  of  one  mind.  The  address  has  been 
carried  unanimously,  and  a  determination  is  avowed  to  ob 
tain  from  the  Spanish  Court  an  acknowledgment  that 
they  are  entitled  to  no  part  of  America  but  such  as  they 
occupy.  After  dinner,  attend  Mrs.  Penn  to  the  play. 
Henry  the  Fifth  is  acted  very  badly,  and  with  great  ap 
plause.  The  monarch  makes  great  exertion  '  to  split  the 


326  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

ears  of  the  groundlings.'  A  translation  of  the  '  Marriage 
of  Figaro '  is  very  well  done  by  the  intended  wife  of  Lord 
Derby,  Miss  Farren. ,  She  is  said  to  be  perfectly  chaste, 
and  his  lordship,  I  suppose,  is  satisfied  on  that  subject,  but 
the  caresses  of  the  stage  are  not  exactly  what  one  would 
wish  to  be  exhibited  on  one's  intended  bride." 

"  This  morning  [May  i3th]  M.  Bourgainville,  one  of  La 
fayette's  aides-de-camp,  comes  in.  I  read  to  him  my  let 
ter  to  his  General  and  to  Carmichael,  and  explain  as  fully 
as  conversation  could  permit  my  plan  for  carrying  on  a  war 
against  this  country.  He  is  to  write  to  M.  de  Lafayette 
to-morrow  for  permission  to  pass  over  for  a  few  days  to 
Paris.  I  give  him  also  some  ideas  upon  the  constitution 
which  they  are  now  forming,  and  read  an  essay  written  on 
it  last  summer  which  contains  many  predictions  since  veri 
fied.  He  tells  me  that  he  is  an  advocate  for  a  single  cham 
ber,  but  that  my  objections  against  that  form  are  strong." 

Morris  had  been  several  times  applied  to,  to  take  some 
steps  in  regard  to  the  American  seamen  impressed  into 
the  British  service,  and  he  prepared  a  short  memorial  on 
the  subject,  which  was  sent  to  the  Lords  of  the  Admi 
ralty.  Being  strongly  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  more 
action  in  the  matter,  in  consequence  of  the  cases  brought 
to  his  notice,  he  determined,  if  possible,  to  see  the  Duke  of 
Leeds  on  the  subject. 

He  therefore  requested  an  interview,  which  was  granted 
for  the  2oth  of  May,  and  which  the  diary  describes  as  fol 
lows  :  "  I  stay  but  a  short  time  with  his  grace  the  Duke 
of  Leeds.  He  apologizes  for  not  having  answered  my  let 
ters.  I  tell  him  that  I  suppose  he  has  been  so  much  en 
gaged  in  other  affairs  that  he  has  not  had  time.  He  says 
I  misunderstood  one  part  of  his  letter  to  me,  for  that  he 
certainly  meant  to  express  a  willingness  to  enter  into  a 
treaty  of  commerce.  To  this  I  reply  that  my  present  ob- 


1790]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  327 

ject  is  to  mention  another  affair,  and  as  to  my  letter,  he 
will,  I  suppose,  answer  it  at  his  leisure.  I  then  mention 
the  impress  of  American  seamen,  and  observe  that  their 
press-gangs  have  entered  American  vessels  with  as  little 
ceremony  as  those  belonging  to  Britain.  '  I  believe,  my 
Lord,  this  is  the  only  instance  in  which  we  are  not  treated 
as  aliens.'  He  acknowledges  this  to  be  wrong,  and  prom 
ises  to  speak  to  Lord  Chatham  on  the  subject.  I  tell  him 
that  I  have  already  prevented  some  applications  from  be 
ing  made  on  this  business  in  a  disagreeable  manner,  but 
that  in  a  general  impress  over  all  the  British  dominions,  if 
the  greatest  care  be  not  used,  such  things  will  happen 
that  masters  of  vessels,  on  returning  home,  will  excite 
much  heat  in  America,  'and  that,  my  Lord,  added  to  other 
circumstances,  will  perhaps  occasion  very  disagreeable 
events.  And  you  know,  my  Lord,  that  when  a  wound  is 
recently  healed  it  is  very  easy  to  rub  off  the  skin.'  He 
repeats  his  assurances.  I  tell  him  that  I  feel  the  incon 
veniences  to  which  they  may  be  subjected  from  the  diffi 
culty  of  distinguishing  between  seamen  of  the  two  coun 
tries,  and  add  my  wish  that  some  plan  may  tie  adopted, 
founded  on  good  faith,  which  may  prevent  the  con 
cealment  of  British  seamen  while  it  secures  those  of 
America  from  insult,  and  suggest  the  idea  of  certificates 
of  citizenship  from  the  admiralty  courts  of  America  to 
our  seamen.  He  seems  much  pleased  with  this,  but  I  de 
sire  him  to  consult  those  of  the  King's  servants  whose  par 
ticular  department  it  is,  reminding  him  at  the  same  time 
that  I  speak  without  authority  from  America,  on  which 
score  I  made  an  apology  in  the  outset.  I  then  take  my 
leave,  but  he  requests  me  to  call  again  about  one  o'clock 
to-morrow. 

"  At  one  o'clock  on  Friday  I  again  wait  upon  the  Duke. 
After  waiting  some  time  in  the  antechamber,  I  am  intro- 


328  DIARY    AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

duced  to  where  Mr.  Pitt  and  he  are  sitting  together.  He 
presents  me  to  the  latter,  and  we  enter  into  conversation. 
The  first  point  is  that  of  the  impress,  and  upon  that  sub 
ject  Mr.  Pitt  approves  the  idea  of  a  certificate  from  the 
Admiralty  of  America.  I  mention  that  it  might  be  proper 
for  the  King's  servants  to  order  that  certificates  of  a  cer 
tain  kind  should  be  evidence  of  an  American  seaman, 
without  excluding,  however,  other  evidence,  and  that  in 
consequence  the  executive  authority  in  America  could  di 
rect  the  officers  of  the  Admiralty  Courts  to  issue  such  cer 
tificates  to  those  applying  for  them.  We  then  proceed  to 
the  treaty  of  peace.  They  both  mention  that  I  had  mis 
apprehended  the  letter  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds  respecting  a 
treaty  of  commerce.  I  observe  that  it  may  easily  be  set 
right  as  to  that  mistake,  but  that  it  is  idle  to  think  of  mak 
ing  a  new  treaty  until  the  parties  are  satisfied  about  that 
already  existing.  Mr.  Pitt  then  took  up  the  conversation, 
and  said  that  the  delay  of  compliance  on  our  part  had  ren 
dered  that  compliance  now  less  effectual,  and  that  cases 
must  certainly  exist  where  injury  had  been  sustained  by 
the  delay.  I  observe  generally  that  delay  is  always  a  kind 
of  breach,  being,  as  long  as  it  lasts,  the  non-performance 
of  stipulations.  But,  descending  a  little  more  into  particu 
lars,  I  endeavor  to  show  that  the  injury  is  complained  of 
by  the  Americans  for  the  non-payment  of  money  due 
by  this  government  to  the  owners  of  slaves  taken  away. 
On  the  whole,  I  observe  that  inquiries  of  this  sort  may  be 
very  useful  if  the  parties  mutually  seek  to  keep  asunder, 
but  that,  if  they  mean  to  come  together,  it  would  be  best  to 
keep  them  entirely  out  of  sight,  and  now  to  perform  on 
both  sides  as  well  as  the  actual  situation  of  things  will 
permit.  After  many  professions  to  cultivate  a  good  un 
derstanding,  Mr.  Pitt  mentions  that  it  might  be  well  to 
consider  in  general  the  subject,  and  on  general  grounds  to 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  329 

see  whether  some  compensation  could  not  be  made  mutu 
ally.  I  immediately  replied  :  l  If  I  understand  you,  Mr.  Pitt, 
you  wish  to  make  a  new  treaty  instead  of  complying  with 
the  old  one.'  He  admitted  this  to  be  in  some  sort  his  idea. 
I  said  that  even  on  that  ground  I  did  not  see  what  better 
could  be  done  than  to  perform  the  old  one.  'As  to  the 
compensation  for  negroes  taken  away,  it  is  too  trifling  an 
object  for  you  to  dispute,  so  that  nothing  remains  but  the 
posts.*  I  suppose,  therefore,  that  you  wish  to  retain  the 
posts.'  'Why,  perhaps  we  may.'  'They  are  not  worth  the 
keeping,  for  it  must  cost  you  a  great  deal  of  money,  and 
produce  no  benefit.  The  only  reason  you  can  desire  them 
is  to  secure  the  fur-trade,  and  that  will  centre  in  this  coun 
try,  let  who  will  carry  it  on  in  America.'  I  gave  him  the 
reasons  for  this  opinion.  '  If  you  consider  these  posts  as 
a  trivial  object,  there  is  the  less  reason  for  acquiring  them.' 
'Pardon  me,  sir,  I  only  state  the  retaining  them  as  useless 
to  you  ;  but  this  matter  is  to  be  considered  in  a  different 
point  of  light.  Those  who  made  the  peace  acted  wisely 
in  separating  the  possessions  of  the  two  countries  by  so 
wide  a  water.  It  is  essential  to  preserve  the  boundary  if 
you  wish  to  live  in  amity  with  us.  Near  neighbors  are 
seldom  good  ones,  for  the  quarrels  among  borderers  fre 
quently  bring  on  wars.  It  is  therefore  essential  for  both 
parties  that  you  should  give  them  up,  and  to  us  it  is  of 
particular  importance,  because  our  national  honor  is  inter- 

*  The  continued  occupation  of  the  posts  along  the  frontier  by  the  British 
troops  had  occasioned  much  dissatisfaction  in  America,  and,  as  early  as  1785, 
Adams,  when  sent  on  his  mission  to  Great  Britain,  had  told  Lord  Carmarthen 
that  perhaps  the  most  pressing  of  all  the  six  points  for  discussion  was  the  re 
tention  of  the  posts,  which  had  deprived  the  "  merchants  of  a  most  profitable 
trade  in  furs,  which  they  justly  considered  as  their  right."  In  1785  this 
subject  was  also  mentioned  to  Pitt  by  Mr.  Adams,  but  was  always  met  with 
the  same  answer,  that  it  was  a  matter  connected  with  the  debts.  It  was  not 
until  1796,  under  Mr.  Jay's  treaty,  that  the  much-disputed  frontier-posts  were 
surrendered  by  Great  Britain  to  the  United  States. 


330  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

ested.  You  hold  them  with  the  avowed  intention  of  forc 
ing  us  to  comply  with  such  conditions  as  you  may  impose.' 
'Why,  sir,  as  to  the  considerations  of  national  honor,  we 
can  retort  the  observation  and  say  our  honor  is  concerned 
in  your  delay  of  performance  of  the  treaty.'  '  No,  sir,  your 
natural  and  proper  course  was  to  comply  fully  on  your 
part,  and  if  then  we  had  refused  a  compliance,  you  might 
rightfully  have  issued  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  to 
such  of  your  subjects  as  were  injured  by  our  refusal.  But 
the  conduct  you  have  pursued  naturally  excites  resent 
ment  in  every  American  bosom.  We  do  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  go  to  war  with  you  for  these  posts,  but  we  know 
our  rights,  and  will  avail  ourselves  of  them  when  time  and  cir 
cumstances  may  suit.' 

"  Mr.  Pitt  asked  me  if  I  had  power  to  treat.  I  told  him 
I  had  not,  and  that  we  would  not  appoint  any  person  as 
minister,  they  had  so  much  neglected  the  former  appoint 
ment.  He  asked  me  whether  we  would  appoint  a  minis 
ter  if  they  did.  I  told  him  that  I  could  almost  promise 
that  we  should,  but  was  not  authorized  to  give  any  posi 
tive  assurance.  We  then  converse  loosely  upon  the  man 
ner  of  communicating  on  that  subject.  In  the  course  of 
it  I  tell  him  that  we  cannot  take  notice  of  their  consuls, 
or  anything  which  they  may  say,  because  they  are  not 
characters  known  or  acknowledged  by  us.  His  pride  was 
a  little  touched  at  this." 

"  '  I  suppose,  Mr.  Morris,  that  attention  might  as  well  be 
paid  to  what  they  say  as  that  the  Duke  of  Leeds  and  I 
should  hold  the  present  conversation  with  you.' 

"  '  By  no  means,  sir.  I  should  never  have  thought  of 
asking  a  conference  with  his  grace  if  I  had  not  possessed 
a  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United  States,  which 
you  know,  my  Lord,  I  left  with  you,  and  which,  I  dare 
say,  you  have  communicated  to  Mr.  Pitt.' 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  331 

"  He  had.  Mr.  Pitt  said  they  would  in  like  manner 
write  a  letter  to  one  of  their  consuls. 

" '  Yes,  sir,  and  the  letter  would  be  attended  to  and  not 
the  consul,  who  is  in  no  respect  different  from  any  other 
British  subject,  and  this  is  the  subject  which  I  wished  you 
to  attend  to.' 

"He  said,  in  reply  to  this,  that  etiquette  ought  not  to  be 
pushed  so  far  as  to  injure  business,  and  keep  the  countries 
asunder.  I  assured  him  that  the  rulers  of  America  had 
too  much  understanding  to  care  for  etiquette,  but  prayed 
him  at  the  same  time  to  recollect  that  they  (the  British) 
had  hitherto  kept  us  at  a  distance  instead  of  making  ad 
vances  ;  that  we  had  gone  quite  as  far  as  they  had  any 
reason  to  expect  in  writing  the  letter  just  mentioned,  but 
that  from  what  had  passed  in  consequence  of  it,  and  which 
(as  he  might  naturally  suppose)  I  had  transmitted,  we 
could  not  but  consider  them  as  wishing  to  avoid  an  inter 
course.  He  took  up  this  point,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  I 
would  remove  such  an  idea.  He  assures  me  that  they  are 
disposed  to  cultivate  a  connection,  etc.  To  this  I  reply 
that  any  written  communication  that  may  be  made  by  his 
grace  of  Leeds  shall  be  duly  transmitted  ;  that  I  do  not 
like  to  transmit  mere  conversation,  because  it  may  be  mis 
conceived,  and  that  disagreeable  questions  may  arise  ;  that 
as  to  the  disposition  for  having  a  good  understanding  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  it  is  evidenced  on  our  part  not 
only  by  the  step  which  the  President  has  taken,  but  also 
by  the  decision  of  the  legislature,  in  which  a  considerable 
majority  were  opposed  to  the  laying  extraordinary  re 
strictions  upon  British  vessels  in  our  ports.  Mr.  Pitt  ob 
serves  that,  on  the  contrary,  we  ought  to  give  them  particu 
lar  privileges  in  consequence  of  those  which  we  enjoy 
here.  I  tell  him  that  I  really  know  of  no  particular  privi 
lege  we  enjoy,  except  that  of  being  impressed,  which  of 


332  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

all  others  we  are  least  desirous  to  partake  of.  The  Duke 
of  Leeds  observed,  in  the  same  style  of  jocularity,  that  we 
were  at  least  treated  in  that  respect  as  the  most  favored 
nation,  seeing  that  we  were  treated  like  themselves.  They 
promised  to  consult  together,  and  give  me  the  result  of 
their  deliberations." 

"At  eleven  o'clock  to-night  [May  22d]  I  take  Mrs.  Phyn 
to  Ranelagh.  We  do  not  arrive  till  after  twelve.  The  room 
is  filled,  and  it  is  an  immense  one.  The  amusement  here 
is  to  walk  round  until  one  is  tired,  and  then  sit  down  to  tea 
and  rolls.  The  report  of  the  day  has  been  that  the  Na 
tional  Assembly  have  denied  to  the  King  the  power  of 
making  war  and  peace.  I  met  an  abbe  at  the  French 
ambassador's  at  dinner  to-day,  who  is  a  very  great  astrono 
mer,  and  who  makes  several  observations  on  the  philo 
sophic  credulity  of  Franklin  and  Jefferson.  Both  of  them, 
he  thinks,  have  entertained  a  higher  sense  of  the  force  of 
steam-engines  applied  to  navigation  than  they  merit,  and 
I  think  so  too.  I  have  told  Parker  long  ago  that  I  believe 
Rumsey's  contrivances  will  answer  only  to  work  up  stream 
in  rivers  where  fuel  is  cheap.  The  ambassador  seems  to 
me  to  be  in  a  violent  agitation  of  mind,  and  I  remark  it 
after  dinner  to  his  niece,  who  tells  me  that  he  has  been  so 
for  some  days,  but  she  cannot  conjecture  the  reason.  In 
conversing  about  the  news  of  yesterday,  Church,  who  is 
here,  says  that  it  is  reported  from  M.  de  Calonne,  said  to 
have  learned  it  by  express,  that  the  National  Assembly 
have  vested  in  the  Crown  the  right  of  peace  and  war.  I 
express  my  surprise  that  in  the  present  conjuncture  the 
Comte  de  Florida  Blanca  should  be  removed,  and  from  the 
state  of  affairs  draw  into  question  the  truth  of  that  report. 
La  Luzerne  upon  this  subject  declares  that  in  Spain  they 
have  no  idea  of  any  such  situation  as  seems  to  be  imag 
ined  here  ;  that  there  is  nothing  extraordinary  in  their 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  333 

armaments,  etc.  This  is  going  too  far  for  his  own  object, 
because  a  certain  extent  of  armament  in  that  country  is  in 
disputable,  and  also  that  it  exceeds  the  usual  measure  of 
peace  establishment  very  considerably." 

"  Dine  [May  27th]  with  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne.  It  is 
six  when  I  arrive.  He  receives  me  politely,  and  apologizes 
for  not  having  invited  me  sooner.  At  dinner  he  sports  sen 
timents  respecting  the  constitution  of  France  to  the  French 
who  are  here,  which  I  believe  to  be  foreign  to  his  heart. 
Dr.  Price  *  is  one  of  the  guests,  who  is  one  of  the  Liberty- 
mad  people.  After  dinner,  being  together  in  the  drawing- 
room  a  few  minutes,  the  noble  marquis  advances  senti 
ments  to  me  far  less  friendly  to  France,  but  full  of  love 
and  kindness  for  America.  I  am,  however,  at  liberty  to  be 
lieve  just  as  much  as  I  please.  The  resolutions  of  the  As 
sembly  are  arrived,  which  say  just  nothing,  as  far  as  I  can 
find.  They  reserve  the  right  of  declaring  war  to  the  Na 
tional  Assembly,  but  permit  the  King  to  arm,  etc.  This,  at 
least,  is  the  account  given  to  me  by  Lord  Lansdowne. 

"  Dine  [May  28th]  at  the  French  ambassador's.  He  says 
that  the  decree  respecting  war  and  peace  was  passed  in 
consequence  of  the  tumultuous  meeting  of  the  populace 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  place  where  the  Assembly  sit. 
Bouinville  says  that  Lafayette  wants  him  to  concert  with 
me,  and  then  return  for  a  few  days  to  Paris.  He  thinks 
that  the  decree  will  by  no  means  prevent  the  administra 
tion  from  engaging  in  a  war,  and  I  think  so  too." 

"  The  news  from  Paris  [May  3oth]  is  that  everything  is 

*  Richard  Price,  a  dissenting  minister  and  speculative  philosopher,  born  in 
1723,  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Franklin  and  Dr.  Priestley.  He  strongly 
advocated  the  cause  of  American  liberty,  and  in  1778  he  was  invited  by  Con 
gress  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  This  offer  he  declined.  He 
was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  French  Revolution  and  drew  down  upon 
himself  thus  the  denunciations  of  Burke  in  the  famous  "Reflections."  He 
died  at  London  in  1791. 


334  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

again  in  confusion.  The  populace  have  dispersed  the 
Court  of  the  Chatelet,  and  hanged  several  persons  confined 
for  crimes.  The  reason  of  this  riot  was  to  prevent  an  in 
vestigation  of  the  ex-cesses  before  committed  at  Versailles. 
Farther,  the  object  of  the  demagogues,  according  to  rumor, 
is  to  remove  Lafayette  and  place  La  Meth  *  in  his  stead. 
This  would  be  a  curious  appointment.  But  France  seems 
now  to  be  governed  by  Barnave,f  Chapelier,J  the  Baron  de 
Menou,§  and  Due  d'Aquillon,||  with  others  of  the  same 
stamp.  Unhappy  kingdom  !  " 

The  trial  of  Warren  Hastings  was  going  on  most  of  the 
time  that  Morris  had  been  in  London,  and  although  tickets 
of  admission  had  been  offered  to  him  at  various  times,  only 
once  had  he  gone  to  Westminster  Hall  ;  on  June  yth,  how 
ever,  when  the  trial  was  nearly  over,  he  again  went.  "  We 
get,"  the  diary  says,  "  to  Westminster  Hall  at  eleven,  and 
find  great  difficulty  in  procuring  a  seat.  About  two  the 
court  opens,  and  from  twelve  we  have  been  pressed  hard 
by  those  who  could  not  get  seats,  and  are  much  incom 
moded  by  the  foul  air  till  near  six,  when  the  company  is  a 
little  thinned.  Mr.  Fox  sums  up  the  evidence  with  great 
ability.  But  he  does  not  get  through  it  at  eight  o'clock, 
\vhen  the  Lords  adjourn.  It  is  said  that  this  man  is  to  be 

*  Count  Alexandra  La  Meth,  a  deputy  of  the  noblesse  in  1789,  who  united 
with  the  Third  Estate  to  form  the  national  party. 

t  Antoine  Charles  Pierre  Barnave,  a  revolutionist  and  an  orator,  and  a 
member  of  the  States-General  in  1789. 

J  Isaac  Rene  Gui  Chapelier,  an  eminent  lawyer,  among  the  ablest  members 
of  the  States-General.  He  drafted  the  degree  abolishing  the  nobility,  and 
favored  the  Feuillants,  or  the  side  of  the  constitution.  In  1794  he  was  execut 
ed  on  the  charge  cf  having  conspired  in  favor  of  royalty. 

§  Jacques  Francois  Baron  de  Menou  served  in  the  republican  army  in  1793, 
in  the  Vendean  campaign,  and  commanded  the  national  guard  which  sup 
pressed  the  insurrection  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Antoine. 

||  Armand  de  Vignero  Duplisses  Richelieu,  Due  d'Aquillon,  warmly  sup 
ported  the  popular  cause  in  the  States-General  in  1789,  was  the  second  of 
the  noblesse  to  renounce  his  privileges  in  the  session  of  August  4th,  took 
command  of  the  armies,  was  proscribed  in  1792,  but  escaped  by  flight. 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  335 

acquitted,  and  from  the  various  decisions  as  to  evidence  we 
would  be  inclined  to  think  so,  but  in  my  opinion  this 
charge  of  bribery  is  fully  supported.  It  will,  however, 
depend,  I  suppose,  on  the  situation  of  the  ministry  at  the 
time  of  the  decision,  whether  he  is  acquitted  or  con 
demned." 

By  the  middle  of  June  the  bourgeoisie  revolutionnaire  in 
the  National  Assembly,  hoping  to  insure  to  themselves  a 
passive  king,  with  all  the  splendor  of  a  court  around  him 
which  he  should  owe  to  them,  voted  Louis  XVI.  an 
allowance  of  26,000, ooof.  "Out  of  this  sum,  however," 
Morris  says,  in  commenting  on  the  act,  "he  is  to  provide 
for  his  household  troops,  and  for  the  different  branches  of 
the  royal  family.  He  has  asked,  though  not  pointedly, 
4,ooo,ooof.  for  the  Queen's  dower,  and  they  have  granted 
it,  but  not  specifically.  The  forms  will,  I  suppose,  be  gone 
through  speedily.  There  is  also  a  plan  of  confederation 
to  take  place  between  the  military  and  militia,  by  way  of 
counter-security  to  the  Revolution." 

Ten  days  after  the  Assembly  had  enthusiastically  voted 
the  allowance  for  the  king  ;  just  as  enthusiastically,  and 
"with  an  inconsequence  truly  prodigious,"  they  voted  the 
abolition  of  the  nobility. 

"  To-day  [June  24th]  at  dinner  at  the  French  ambas 
sador's,"  continues  the  diary,  "  there  are  a  number  of  the 
Corps  Diplomatique,  and,  what  suits  me  better,  a  fine  turtle. 
Advices  from  France  announce  the  total  abolition  of  the 
French  nobility,  down  to  the  very  arms  and  livery ;  this 
upon  motion  of  some  of  the  Whig  nobles.  There  is  also 
a  strange  address  to  the  Assembly  from  a  junto  of  all  na 
tions.  It  seems  as  if  the  Revolutionists  were  studying 
how  best  to  excite  a  strong  opposition  to  their  measures. 
Heaven  knows  how  this  will  all  end,  but  I  fear  badly,  un 
less  they  are  saved  by  a  foreign  war.  Go  from  hence  to 


336  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

General  Morris's,  and  sit  some  time  with  them.  He  says 
there  will  be  no  war,  and  from  his  manner  of  speaking  I 
think  he  has  been  told  so  by  some  person  who  is  in  the 
secret." 

Morris's  keen  sense  of  humor  prevailed  even  at  this 
juncture,  which  was  full  of  sadness  to  many  of  his  Parisian 
friends,  and  he  could  not  resist  the  inclination  to  see  the 
grimly  amusing  side  of  the  change  of  names  that  must 
ensue  from  such  a  decree.  "  Make  a  thousand  compli 
ments  for  me,"  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Short,  "  to  her  Royal  High 
ness  and  to  Madame  de  Chastellux.  I  suppose  that  when 
I  return  to  Paris  (which  will  be  soon)  I  shall  have  to  learn 
new  names  for  one-half  of  my  acquaintance.  Pray,  are  the 
friends  of  the  Revolution  afraid  that  its  enemies  will  not 
be  sufficiently  exasperated?" 

"  The  Marquis  de  la  Luzerne  tells  me  to-day  [July  2d], 
at  dinner,  that  the  Duke  of  Orleans  has  taken  leave  of  the 
King  with  intention  to  return.  I  tell  him  that  I  doubt  yet 
his  returning,  because  I  think  that  the  slightest  circum 
stance  would  prevent  it,  and  mention,  as  an  instance,  that 
the  receipt  even  of  an  anonymous  letter  announcing  dan 
ger  would  terrify  him.  He  says  there  are  many  ways,  but 
that  they  will  neither  use  them  nor  permit  others  to  do  it. 
He  seems  rather  vexed  at  this.  The  decree  respecting  the 
nobility,  he  observes,  is  not  yet  sanctioned.  I  notice  the 
situation  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  as  being  whimsical.  He 
cannot  go  into  any  country  well,  nor  remain  here,  when 
the  war  breaks  out.  He  asks  me  why  I  suppose  always 
that  there  will  be  a  war  ?  I  tell  him  that  I  have  long  been 
convinced  of  it,  for  many  reasons.  'Vous  dites  toujours 
les  choses  extraordinaires  qui  se  realisent.'  Happening  to 
mention  Short,  he  speaks  of  him  as  being  fout  and  ren 
dered  so  by  Jefferson.  I  tell  him  that  he  will  probably  be 
appointed  minister  in  France.  He  seems  not  well  pleased, 


179°.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  337 

but  says  he  is  probably  a  very  suitable  person.  He  is 
vexed  at  Lafayette's  conduct  respecting  the  noblesse,  and 
says  that,  although  he  has  a  good  deal  of  management 
(conduite)  in  his  affairs,  he  has  done  much  evil  from  the 
want  of  genius  (esprit\  in  which  idea  he  is  not  entirely 
wrong." 

On  July  i4th  the  great  fete  of  the  federation  was  held, 
when  the  world  of  Paris  celebrated  the  anniversary  of  the 
fall  of  the  Bastille,  and  swore  to  obey  the  new  constitution. 
There  were  three  hundred  thousand  spectators  assembled 
in  the  great  amphitheatre  in  the  Champ  de  Mars.  Here 
could  be  seen  the  courtesan  and  the  chaste  maiden,  the 
capuchin  and  the  chevalier  of  St.  Louis,  the  porter  and  the 
dandy  of  the  Palais  Royal,  the  fishwoman  and  the  fine  lady, 
mingled  together,  and  together  they  swore  fraternity.  How 
they  kept  the  oath  history  tells.  At  the  elevation  of  the 
Host  by  the  celebrant,  the  Bishop  of  Autun,  all  that  vast 
multitude  fell  on  their  knees.  Lafayette  placed  his  sword 
on  the  altar,  and  gave  the  signal  for  taking  the  oath.  One 
moment  of  intense  silence,  while  he  swore  to  be  faithful  to 
nation  and  king  ;  then  alt  swords  drawn,  all  arms  raised, 
and  from  all  lips  came  the  oath,  "  I  swear."  Then  from 
the  king  came  the  words,  "  I,  King  of  the  French,  swear 
to  protect  the  constitution  I  have  accepted."  Frantic  en 
thusiasm  greeted  the  queen,  who,  with  the  Dauphin  in  her 
arms,  said,  "The  king's  sentiments  are  mine."  Then  the 
Te  Deum  gave  the  amen  to  the  oath.  All  the  while  the 
rain  kept  falling  in  torrents  on  the  pageant.  In  the  even 
ing  another  great  fete  was  held,  and  on  the  ruins  of  the 
Bastille  one  saw  the  sign,  "  Ici  Ton  danse."  All  night  long 
Paris  was  en  fete. 

"Your  fete  is  passed,"  Morris  wrote,  July  26th,  of  this 
event   to  William   Short;   "I  trust  that   no  sinister  acci 
dents  have  resulted  from  it.     When  we  reflect  on  the  inci- 
22 


338  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

dents  which  have  passed  within  less  than  two  years,  we 
must  be  forcibly  struck  with  the  mutability  of  human 
affairs.  ...  I  sincerely,  nay,  devoutly,  wish  that  the 
constitution  may  be  productive  of  great  and  lasting  good 
to  France.  It  is,  you  know,  very  far  from  my  ideas  of 
what  is  right,  and  it  will  give  me  great  pleasure  should 
it  disappoint  my  expectations.  I  had  been,  as  you  sup 
pose,  apprised  of  the  schism  in  the  democratic  party, 
at  which  I  was  not  at  all  surprised.  United  by  com 
mon  danger,  very  discordant  materials  were  held  together, 
which  from  different  motives  had  been  thrown  together. 
The  danger  past,  in  appearance  at  least,  the  different 
pretensions  were  brought  forward,  and  (unfortunately,  I 
think)  there  is  no  man  or  set  of  men  who  have  dared  to 
stop  at  that  point  of  moderation  \vhere  alone  good  prin 
ciples  can  be  found,  and  by  which  alone  good  govern 
ment  can  exist.  Those  who  court  the  people  have  a 
very  capricious  mistress  ;  a  mistress  which  may  be  gained 
by  sacrifices,  but  she  cannot  be  so  held,  for  she  is  insati 
able.  The  people  will  never  continue  attached  to  any 
man  who  will  sacrifice  his  duty  to  their  caprice.  In 
modern  days  we  have,  I  believe,  more  virtue  than  the  an 
cients  ;  certainly  we  are  more  decent.  But  the  principles 
of  human  nature  are  the  same,  and  so  shall  we  find  the 
pursuits  of  man  to  be,  if  we  can  but  penetrate  that  veil  of 
decency  by  which  young  ambition  is  decorated.  If  we 
cannot,  he  will  spare  us  the  trouble  whenever  those  bar 
riers  are  removed  which  were  erected  against  him  by  that 
great  ally  of  virtue,  the  law.  In  proportion  as  the  Revolu 
tion  shall  appear  to  be  completed,  and  the  new  order  of 
things  appear  to  be  established,  schisms  will  multiply 
anaong  the  Revolutionists,  for  each  will  desire  (disinterest 
edly,  no  doubt)  a  share  of  the  good  things  which  are 
going,  and  which,  from  the  droits  de  I'homme,  you  know  all 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  339 

are  entitled  to  enjoy.  I  remember,  in  one  of  the  early  ad 
dresses  of  Congress,  something  was  said  about  the  luxury 
of  being  free.  Now  the  French  genius  may  refine  as  much 
upon  this  luxury  as  they  used  to  do  upon  the  other ;  but, 
bating  their  talents  at  refinement,  I  hardly  conjecture 
what  ground  those  men  will  take  hereafter  who  would 
signalize  their  democratic  principles.  They  will,  I  fear, 
be  but  humble  imitators  of  Sir  John  Brute,  who,  in  the 
heat  of  his  zeal  and  wine,  drank  confusion  to  all  order. 
.  The  observation  you  made  upon  the  dissolute  con 
duct  of  the  Fedcres,  I  had  long  since  made  upon  the  whole 
nation.  It  requires  the  strong  stomach  of  monarchy  to 
digest  such  rank  manners.  As  to  the  instinctive  love  of 
their  princes  which  you  speak  of,  it  is  indeed  instinctive, 
and  the  animal  will  never  get  rid  of  its  instinct.  The 
French  will  all  tell  you  that  their  countrymen  have  des  tetes 
exalte'es,  and  their  manners,  habits,  and  ideas  are  all  up  to 
that  standard.  A  Frenchman  loves  his  king  as  he  loves 
his  mistress,  to  madness,  because  he  thinks  it  great  and 
noble  to  be  mad.  He  then  abandons  both  the  one  and  the 
other  most  ignobly,  because  he  cannot  bear  the  continued 
action  of  the  sentiment  he  has  persuaded  himself  to  feel." 
"  Paine  tells  me  that  the  Comte  de  Montmorin  has 
applied  to  the  Assemblee,"  says  the  diary  for  August 
8th,  "to  know  whether  they  will  adhere  to  the  family 
compact.  The  Spanish  ambassador  has  made  a  formal 
demand,  accompanied  with  a  threat  from  his  Court.  I 
think  I  see  this  in  its  true  light,  but  do  not  mention 
to  him  my  idea.  After  he  has  left  me  some  time,  Bouin- 
ville  calls,  and  from  conversation  with  him  I  find  that 
I  am  right.  He  tells  me  that  the  whole  of  the  French 
administration  will  go  out,  but  that  Montmorin  will  pre 
serve  his  place  in  the  council  as  governor  of  the  chil 
dren  of  France  ;  that  secretaries  will  be  appointed  for 


340  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XV. 

the  present — young  men  who  can  be  at  any  time  removed. 
Ternant  has  been  negotiating  (but  without  effect),  to  quiet 
the  claims  of  the  German  princes,  whose  feudal  claims  in 
France  have  been  annihilated.  Barnave  is  about  to  desert 
La  Meth,  who  has  lately  made  overtures  to  M.  de  Lafa 
yette,  but  he  replied  by  a  declaration  that  in  the  present 
situation  there  was  no  alternative  but  victory  or  death. 
General  and  Mrs.  Morris  call  upon  me.  They  take  tea, 
and  sit  till  near  ten.  She  tells  me  that  the  Duchess  of 
Gordon  is,  on  her  report,  very  desirous  of  becoming  ac 
quainted.  She  is,  it  seems,  a  woman  of  great  wit  and  full 
of  life.  They  have  dined  with  her,  and  she  told  my  sister 
she  would  give  me  a  dinner  with  Mr.  Pitt.  I  express  much 
satisfaction  at  the  idea  of  being  presented  to  the  Premier. 
In  the  course  of  conversation  my  sister  tells  me  that  the 
fashionable  style  for  young  men  in  London  is  to  affect 
great  ennui,  and  receive  advances  from  the  ladies  which 
they  hardly  deign  to  notice." 

"To-day  [August  i5th]  Mr.  Bouinville  dines  with  me, 
and  communicates  all  that  he  knows  respecting  the  situa 
tion  of  affairs  in  France.  He  tells  me  that  Lafayette  has 
been  very  much  hurt  to  find  himself  so  much  deceived  by 
those  whom  he  thought  attached  to  him.  Mankind  always 
make  false  estimates  on  this  subject.  He  tells  me  much 
of  what  passed  between  him  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
He  seems  not  to  know,  or  to  be  unwilling  to  mention,  the 
names  of  those  who  are  intended  for  the  new  ministry. 
He  says  that  things  are  going  very  badly  in  Paris,  and,  in 
deed,  in  all  France.  The  Comite  des  Jacobins  gathers 
strength  daily.  Of  course,  Lafayette  becomes  insecure. 
The  army  is  in  a  state  of  total  disorder,  and  the  navy  little 
better  ;  the  finance  every  hour  more  deranged  than  the 
last.  He  seems,  however,  confident  that  the  Assemblee 
will  adhere  to  the  family  compact,  and  that  there  will  be  a 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  341 

war  with  this  country,  which  I  incline  to  doubt,  because 
there  seems  not  to  be  sufficient  energy  in  the  French  coun 
sels.  Paine,  who  was  with  me,  had  shown  a  paper  which 
he  had  written,  and  which  Lafayette  had  caused  to  be 
translated  and  published,  recommending  an  attack  in  the 
Channel  by  the  combined  fleets." 


342  DIARY    AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Various  undertakings  in  Europe.  Dulness  of  card-playing  in  England. 
Washington  approves  of  Morris's  communications  with  the  ministers. 
Letter  to  Washington  on  French  affairs.  Interview  with  the  Duke  of 
Leeds.  Continental  tour  before  returning  to  Paris.  Civilities  from 
persons  to  whom  he  had  letters.  Difficulties  of  travel  in  1790.  Un 
comfortable  inns  and  bad  roads.  Interview  with  Baron  de  Dolberg. 
Paris  again.  Flatteringly  received  by  the  Comte  de  Montmorin. 
Morris  presents  a  dog  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  The  Due  de 
Castries's  hotel  pillaged.  M.  de  Flahaut  wishes  to  go  to  America  as 
minister.  The  play  of  "Brutus."  Much  excitement  in  the  theatre. 
Dines  with  the  Garde  des  Sceaux.  Apprehends  a  plot  of  the  Em 
peror  for  liberating  the  Queen  and  restoring  the  former  government. 
Criticises  the  new  constitution.  Gives  his  opinion  of  the  condition 
of  affairs  to  Lafayette.  The  last  months  of  1790. 

DURING  the  year  and  a  half  that  Morris  had  been 
in  Europe  he  had  unremittingly* labored  in  behalf 
of  his  friend  Robert  Morris,  but  the  delays  and  difficul 
ties  that  beset  him  were  unending.  A  querulous  and 
quite  uncalled  for  letter  from  Robert  Morris  drew  from 
him  a  list  of  his  various  undertakings.  In  all,  they  num 
bered  twelve  separate  and  distinct  enterprises.  "Indian 
voyages,  the  liquidated  debt,  debts  to  Spain  and  France 
of  the  United  States,  the  Fairfax  estates,  the  sale  of 
land  in  America,"  so  he  enumerated  them  ;  "  and  last, 
but  much  the  most  difficult  task  of  all,  your  various  debts 
and  engagements.  Here  I  have  had  to  perform  the  task  of 
the  Israelites  in  Egypt — to  make  bricks  without  straw." 
Besides  all  his  other  responsibilities,  he  had  his  farm  at 
Morrisania  to  think  of,  for  it  was  at  this  time  more  of  an 
expense  and  care  than  anything  else. 


I79Q-1  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  343 

"This  evening  [August  i4th],  about  nine,  I  visit  the 
Duchess  of  Gordon.  Presently  Lady  Chatham  comes  in, 
and  then  the  rest  of  the  company.  Colonel  Lenox  and  his 
lady  are  here.  She  is  a  liner  woman  than  is  imagined — 
quick  feelings,  I  think,  and  tenderness,  which  will  by  and 
by  meet  some  object  more  likely  to  command  the  heart 
than  the  colonel,  who  seems  to  be  a  good-tempered  fellow. 
He  speaks  to  me  of  my  brother  with  much  regard.  Dull 
drudging  at  cards,  which  I  refuse  to  partake  of.  Stay  to 
supper,  which,  also,  I  do  not  partake  of,  nor,  indeed,  of  the 
conversation,  which  turns  chiefly  on  who  is  and  who  is  not 
a  fine  woman.  A  Mr.  Elliot  who  is  here  is  a  very  genteel, 
fashionable  kind  of  man,  much  beyond  the  usual  English 
style.  I  think  he  must  be  a  Scotchman,  although  his  dia 
lect  is  pure.  Return  home  at  two,  well  convinced  that  I 
shall  never  do  for  the  tonish  circles  here,  for  I  will  not 
play,  and,  indeed,  cannot  spare  time  in  the  morning  for 
such  late  hours." 

Morris  constantly  spoke  of  himself  as  not  a  cautious 
man,  but  rather  as  one  who  must  speak  out  the  convictions 
that  were  in  him  ;  but  he  was  at  the  same  time  lenient 
with  those  whose  opinions  differed  from  his,  and  his  com 
mon  sense  always  came  out,  as  such  a  letter  as  the  follow 
ing  to  Mr.  Short  testifies:  "It  is  perfectly  natural,"  he 
wrote,  "that  your  opinions  should  differ  from  mine.  It 
will  be  very  long  before  political  subjects  will  be  reduced 
to  geometric  certitude.  At  present  the  reasoning  on  them 
is  a  kind  of  arithmetic  of  infinity,  when  the  best  informa 
tion,  the  coolest  head,  and  clearest  mind  can  only  approach 
the  truth.  A  cautious  man  should  therefore  give  only 
sibylline  predictions,  if,  indeed,  he  should  hazard  any. 
But  I  am  not  a  cautious  man.  I  therefore  give  it  as  my 
opinion  that  they  will  issue  the  paper  currency,  and  sub 
stitute  thereby  depreciation  in  the  place  of  bankruptcy,  or, 


344  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

rather,  suspension.  Apropos  of  this  currency,  this  papier 
terrJ,  now  mort  et  enterrd,  the  Assembly  have  committed 
many  blunders  which  are  not  to  be  wondered  at.  They 
have  taken  genius  instead  of  reason  for  their  guide,  adopt 
ed  experiment  instead  of  experience,  and  wander  in  the 
dark  because  they  prefer  lightning  to  light.  You  are  very 
merry  on  the  subject  of  personal  liberty,  but  the  district  has 
more  to  say  than  many  are  aware  of.  Is  it  not  written  in  the 
'Droits  de  1'homme'  that  liberty  is  an  inalienable  property 
of  man  inseparable  from  the  human  character?  and  if  this 
be  so,  what  better  way  of  securing  personal  liberty  than  to 
secure  the  person  ?  You  wits  may  sneer,  but  you  must  learn 
to  respect  the  decrees  of  the  municipalities,  which,  like 
those  of  Heaven,  are  inscrutable,  but  not  on  that  account 
the  less  entitled  to  obedience  and  respect.  The  lady,  I 
am  told,  is  so  far  from  complaining  of  the  restraint  she 
was  laid  under  that,  although  an  aristocrat,  she  tells  the 
Assembly,  with  all  becoming  humility,  that  she  finds  their 
yoke  is  easy  and  their  burden  light,  while  the  young  gen 
tleman  ordered  on  duty  in  her  chamber  acknowledges  that 
service  to  be  perfect  freedom.  Short-sighted  man  that 
you  are  !  By  way  of  addition  and  amendment,  I  would 
humbly  propose  that  the  male  aristocrats  should  be  put 
into  the  custody  of  the  female  Whigs,  and  I  dare  say  they 
would  come  out  much  less  fierce  than  they  were, 

"  The  situation  of  France  is  by  no  means  desperate.  A 
torrent  of  depreciation  may  inundate  the  land,  and  storms 
and  tempests  arise,  but  the  one,  you  know,  fertilizes  the 
soil  and  the  other  purifies  the  atmosphere.  Ultimately 
health  and  abundance  succeed  the  wintry  appearance 
which  seemed  fatal  to  both.  Adieu.  I  shall  leave  this  in 
a  day  or  two." 

In  a  letter  to  Washington,  dated  August  3oth,  he  ex 
pressed  a  hope  that  in  a  day  or  two  he  might  "  learn  some- 


179°.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  345 

thing  of  their  intentions  here  respecting  us.  And  if  I  do 
not  hear  from  them,  shall  make  a  final  address  to  His  Grace 
of  Leeds.  It  is  very  flattering  to  me,  sir,  that  you  are  so 
kind  as  to  approve  of  my  communications  with  the  minis 
ters  of  this  country,  so  far  as  they  had  gone  in  the  begin 
ning  of  May.  I  earnestly  hope  that  my  subsequent  conduct 
may  meet  the  same  favorable  interpretation.  This  you  may 
rely  on,  that  if  in  any  case  I  go  wrong,  it  will  be  from  an 
error  of  judgment.  Affairs  in  France  go  badly.  The  na 
tional  bank  which  was  in  contemplation  has  never  taken  ef 
fect.  After  deliberating  about  it  and  about  it,  the  thing 
dropped,  and  they  did  expect  to  have  made  out  with  their 
paper  currency  (the  assignats),  but  my  predictions  on  that 
subject  seem  to  be  verified.  Their  Assemblee  is  losing 
ground  daily  in  the  public  opinion.  The  army,  long  en 
couraged  in  licentious  conduct,  is  now  in  revolt.  All  the 
bands  of  society  are  loosened  and  authority  is  gone.  Un 
less  they  are  soon  involved  in  foreign  war,  it  seems  impos 
sible  to  conjecture  what  events  will  take  place.  For  some 
time  past  the  ministers  have  been  threatened  with  the  lan- 
term,  and  they  would  gladly  get  out  of  office.  We  are  in 
hourly  expectation  of  hearing  the  decision  of  the  Assem 
blee  on  the  family  compact.  The  Spanish  ambassador 
has  required,  in  pointed  terms,  a  compliance  on  the  part  of 
France.  In  the  meantime  both  the  Spanish  and  English 
fleets  were  out,  and  approaching  toward  each  other. 
Probably  each  side  means  only  to  terrify  at  present." 

Morris  became  decidedly  impatient  of  the  long  de 
lay  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds  in  replying  to  his 
questions  of  April  3oth,  and  on  September  zoth  he  again 
wrote  to  him,  and  told  him  that,  in  expectation  of  his  reply, 
"  I  have  patiently  waited  in  this  city  to  the  present  hour, 
though  called  by  many  affairs  to  the  Continent.  But  my 
departure  cannot  be  much  longer  delayed,  and  therefore  it 


346  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

becomes  necessary  to  intrude  once  more  on  your  grace's 
attention."  An  interview  accordingly  was  fixed  for  the 
i5th,  and  the  diary  thus  reports  it :  "I  see  at  once  by  his 
countenance,  when  I  arrive  at  his  office,  that  he  feels  him 
self  obliged  to  cut  an  awkward  part.  Let  him  begin,  there 
fore,  which  he  does  by  mentioning  that  he  understands  I 
am  going  to  America.  Set  him  right,  by  observing  that  the 
expression  in  my  letter  of  going  to  the  Continent,  meant 
the  continent  of  Europe.  He  says  that  he  is  still  earnestly 
desirous  of  a  real,  bonafide  connection,  not  merely  by  the 
words  of  a  treaty  but  in  reality.  I  reply  with  like  general 
professions.  He  says  that  as  to  the  two  points  of  the 
treaty,  there  are  still  difficulties.  He  wishes  they  could 
be  got  out  of  the  way,  and  then  hesitates  and  drops  the 
conversation.  Finding  from  this  that  he  is  to  hold  a  con 
ference  with  me  which  is  to  amount  to  just  nothing  at  all, 
I  determine  to  learn  as  much  as  I  can  from  his  looks.  I 
therefore  begin  by  observing  that  I  am  extremely  sorry 
for  it,  but  that  the  affair  of  the  posts  seems  to  present  an 
insurmountable  barrier  to  any  treaty,  because  it  will  serve 
as  a  pretext  to  ill-disposed  persons.  This,  I  see,  has  some 
effect.  I  add,  therefore,  that  it  gives  serious  alarm  to  per 
sons  otherwise  well  disposed,  who  say  that  the  garrisoning 
of  those  posts,  being  evidently  a  great  and  useless  expense 
to  this  country,  can  only  be  done  with  hostile  views  ;  that 
every  murder  committed  by  the  Indians  is  therefore  set 
down  to  the  account  of  British  intrigues  ;  that  I  do  not 
presume  to  judge  in  respect  to  the  great  circle  of  Europe 
an  politics,  but,  according  to  my  limited  comprehension 
of  the  matter,  I  am  led  to  imagine  that  they  could  not 
act  with  the  same  decisive  energy  towards  their  natural 
enemies  while  they  doubted  of  our  conduct.  He  admitted 
this.  I  proceed  then  a  little  further,  premising  that  this 
conversation  must  be  considered  as  merely  from  one  gen- 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  347 

tleman  to  another.  In  case  of  a  war  with  the  House  of 
Bourbon,  which,  if  it  does  not  happen  this  year  or  the 
next,  will  probably  happen  within  twenty  years — which  is 
but  a  moment  in  the  age  of  empires— we  can  give  the 
West  Indian  Islands  to  whom  we  please  without  engaging 
in  the  war  at  all,  and  that  we  shall  certainly  in  such  case 
consider  whether  it  is  our  interest  that  they  should  be 
subject  to  England  or  France,  and  act  accordingly.  He 
feels  this  observation,  and  unwarily  lets  me  see  that  this 
point  has  presented  itself  forcibly  to  their  consideration. 
Having  gone  as  far  in  this  line  as  appears  proper,  I  take 
a  short  turn  in  my  subject  and  tell  him  that  I  had  waited 
with  great  patience  during  the  negotiations  which  were 
carrying  on  here,  because  I  supposed  that  they  would  nat 
urally  square  their  conduct  towards  us  by  their  position  in 
respect  to  other  nations.  He  did  not  like  this  remark  at 
all,  having  too  much  of  truth  in  it !  I  added  that  as  the 
Northern  Courts  are  now  at  peace,  and  I  suppose  they  have 
come  to  their  final  decisions  with  respect  to  the  House  of 
Bourbon,  I  thought  it  probable  that  they  were  prepared 
to  speak  definitely  to  us.  I  wait  here  for  his  answer,  buf 
he  has  none  to  give,  being  tolerably  well  embarrassed,  and 
that  embarrassment  is  as  good  an  answer  as  I  wish.  He 
changes  the  conversation  a  little,  and  asks  me  what  the 
United  States  will  think  of  the  undefined  claim  of  Spain 
to  America  ;  I  am  very  willing  to  be  pumped,  and  there 
fore  I  tell  him  carelessly  that  I  don't  think  it  will  make 
any  impression  upon  our  minds,  for  that  the  Spaniards 
are  in  fact  so  apprehensive  of  us  that  they  are  disposed  to 
sacrifice  a  great  deal  for  our  friendship  ;  that  the  only 
reason  they  had  for  withholding  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi  River  was  from  the  apprehension  of  a  contra 
band  trade,  which  was  the  reason  why,  in  my  opinion,  they 
must  stake  the  last  man  and  the  last  shilling  upon  the 


348  DIARY    AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

present  affair  of  Nootka  Sound,  rather  than  admit  the 
right  of  selling  there  by  British  subjects.  He  owns  that 
the  danger  of  contraband  ought  to  be  considered  in  deal 
ing  on  this  subject,  for  that  nations,  like  individuals, 
ought  to  treat  with  candor  and  honesty.  I  tell  him  that  if 
they  come  to  any  determination  speedily,  I  could  wish  to 
be  apprised  of  it.  He  says  that  I  shall,  and  offers  to  com 
municate  with  General  Washington  through  me,  and  for 
that  purpose  to  address  his  letters  to  me  in  France  ;  but  I 
tell  him  that  his  own  packets  will  give  a  more  direct  op 
portunity,  and  take  my  leave.  On  the  whole,  I  find  that 
my  conjectures  are  just.  I  think  they  will  rather  concede 
a  little  than  go  to  war  with  Spain,  if  France  is  in  force  to 
join  her  ally,  but  they  want  to  be  in  a  position  to  deal  ad 
vantageously  with  us  in  case  they  should  find  it  necessary. 
I  believe  the  debates  in  council  on  this  subject  have  been 
pretty  high,  and  that  the  American  party  has  been  out 
voted,  or  else  that  in  feeling  the  ground  they  have  found 
themselves  too  weak  to  bring  forward  the  question." 

Morris  left  London  on  the  24th  of  September,  but  before 
returning  to  Paris  he  took  a  short  run  on  the  Continent  by 
way  of  refreshment  and  recreation.  Letters  of  introduc 
tion  opened  pleasant  houses  to  him  in  many  of  the  towns, 
and  his  taste  for  art  led  him  to  halt  and  at  least  glance 
at  the  best  sights  that  Ghent  and  other  cities  on  the  way 
had  to  show.  The  smallest  incidents  of  this,  as,  indeed, 
of  all  his  journeys,  are  carefully  jotted  down  in  the  diary. 
At  Ghent  he  was  not  a  little  interested  in  the  superstitions 
of  his  guide,  "who,"  he  says,  "had  served  a  long  time 
in  the  French  Army,  which  is  not  the  school  of  most  rigid 
superstition,  and  who  pointed  out  to  me  in  my  walk— 
which  he  took  care  should  be  through  the  streets  where 
the  patriots  and  soldiery  fought — the  marks  of  many 
musket-balls  in  the  wall  of  a  house  against  which  was  an 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  349 

image  either  of  the  Virgin  or  her  Son — I  forget  which — 
and,  miraculously,  not  a  bullet  had  touched  that  sacred  spot. 
Chance  might  have  done  this,  was  the  first  idea  which  en 
tered  the  unbelieving  noddle  of  a  Protestant,  but,  after  pass 
ing,  I  looked  back,  and  found  that  the  miracle  would  have 
been  to  have  hit  it,  for  it  stood  on  a  corner-house  exactly 
out  of  the  line  of  fire.  I  might  therefore  very  easily  have 
explained  this  miracle  ;  but  if  I  should  convince  him  of  the 
folly  of  the  faith  he  has  held  for  above  sixty  years,  'tis  ten 
to  one  if  he  could  now  find  a  better,  and  therefore  it  is 
best  to  leave  him  in  possession  of  his  present  property." 

"At  Bonn  [October  ipth]  I  wait  on  the  French  minister 
with  a  letter  from  the  Comte  de  Montmorin.  He  is  at  the 
door  when  I  inquire  for  him,  and  takes  the  letter  to  de 
liver  it.  This  is  a  little  whimsical,  but  I  am  rather  en  des 
habille',  so  that  he  does  not,  I  believe,  know  what  to  make 
of  me.  However,  after  reading  the  letter  he  is  very  atten 
tive,  which  explains  itself  naturally  enough  by  his  urging 
me  to  stay  to-morrow,  that  he  may  comply  with  the  orders 
of  the  Comte  de  Montmorin,  qui  sont  tres  particuliers. 
Madame  de  Chastellux  has  also  mentioned  me." 

"  Go  to  dine  with  the  minister  the  day  after  my  arrival. 
In  the  evening  there  is  an  assembly,  which  I  find  is  col 
lected  on  purpose.  The  Archduke,  late  Governor  of  the 
Low  Countries,  is  here,  to  whom  I  am  presented,  and  con 
verse  with  him  a  little  about  the  affairs  of  Brabant.  I  have 
some  conversation  also  with  the  Minister  of  the  Finances, 
who  is  quick  and  sensible.  After  the  company  are  gone  the 
Count  takes  me  into  his  cabinet  to  communicate  a  me'moire 
he  has  written  on  the  claims  of  the  German  princes  to 
feudal  rights  in  Alsace.  On  the  whole,  I  am  persuaded 
that  M.  de  Montmorin's  letter  has  contained  everything 
which  I  could  have  wished." 

Travelling  all  day  over  decidedly  bad  roads,  with  slow 


35°  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

horses  and  obstinate  postilions,  required  patience — par 
ticularly  when  a  very  bad  dinner,  cooked  for  the  passen 
gers  who  arrived  an  hour  before,  and  re'chauff^  was  to 
complete  the  day.  The  compensation,  however,  was 
charming  scenery,  thoroughly  enjoyed  because  not  passed 
at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour.  Morris  stopped  a  night 
at  pretty  Schwalbach,  nestling  in  its  deep  ravine,  and 
already  a  "  watering-place  of  great  resort,"  he  says.  Then 
on  through  Wiesbaden  and  Frankfort  to  Darmstadt.  Not 
unlike  Arthur  Young,  Morris  always  noted  the  condition 
of  the  soil,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  countries  he  passed 
through,  but  with  occasionally  a  pardonable  comparison 
not  unfavorable  to  America. 

"I  reach  Diebourg  to-day  [October  25th].  The  Baron 
de  Groshlaer  and  his  family  receive  me  kindly.  Shortly 
after  the  first  compliments  and  a  dish  of  tea,  we  retire  to 
gether.  I  ask  him  the  character  of  the  Emperor.  He 
confirms  the  idea  I  had  taken  up  of  him.  fteaven  knows 
how  or  why  he  shares  his  confidence  between  Manfredi, 

the  governor  of  his  children,  and ,  who  was  a  long 

time  minister  to  the  Court  of  France.  The  first  is  an 
artful,  sensible,  sly  fellow,  and  his  turn  of  mind  is  suited 
to  the  temper  and  character  of  Leopold.  The  other  is 
really  a  man  of  sense  and  a  man  of  business.  There  is  a 
third,  whose  name  I  do  not  distinctly  hear,  who  is  of  great 
genius,  but  indolent  and  epicurean.  Shortly  before  he  left 
Frankfort,  Leopold  seemed  to  give  much  of  his  confidence 
to  Colloredo,  but  this  (as  the  others  were  gone  away) 
might  have  arisen  as  much  from  the  need  of  counsel  as 
from  any  preference  as  to  the  counsellors.  The  Baron  is 
of  opinion  that  both  England  and  Prussia  will  try  hard  to 
gain  the  Emperor,  and  will  offer  him  French  Flanders, 
Artois,  and  a  part  of  Picardy,  to  desert  the  Northern 
League.  He  says  that  Leopold  is  sore  on  account  of  the 


I790-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  351 

insults  offered  his  sister,  the  Queen  of  France,  but  he  does 
not  think  the  German  princes  who  have  claims  on  Alsace 
and  Lorraine  will  be  able  to  obtain  much  aid,  if  any.  In 
deed,  I  think  so  too,  for  the  contest  will  cost  vastly  more 
than  the  object  is  worth.  He  imagines  that  the  Duchy  of 
Juliers  will  be  the  desired  object  of  his  Prussian  Majesty, 
and  this  may  be  the  case,  because  he  is  not  an  able  man." 

"  At  Mannheim  [October  28th]  I  visit  the  Baron  de  Dol- 
berg.  He  says  that  the  Vicomte  de  Mirabeau  had  a  long 
interview  with  Leopold  at  Frankfort,  and  pressed  him  to 
undertake  a  counter-revolution  in  France,  but  he  smiled, 
and  told  him  that  it  was  an  impracticable  project.  He 
thinks  the  administration  in  France  was  so  bad  as  to  occa 
sion  and  justify  a  revolution,  but  quaere  ;  the  Baron  tells 
me  that  the  enmity  of  Austria  to  Prussia  is  at  the  greatest 
imaginable  height  ;  the  Emperor  has  in  his  possession 
the  original  correspondence  for  exciting  a  general  revolt 
in  his  dominions  the  instant  a  war  should  break  out  with 
Prussia.  I  ask  if  this  will  not  lead  the  Emperor  to  avenge 
the  meditated  injury.  He  says  that  it  will  probably  fester 
inwardly  till  a  fit  occasion  offers.  He  tells  me  that  the 
Austrian  General  says  there  are  forty  thousand  troops 
ordered  to  the  Low  Countries.  He  showed  him  the  list. 
This,  with  the  army  already  there,  will  amount  to  fifty 
thousand  men — too  much  if  other  powers  stand  neuter, 
and  too  little  if  they  do  not." 

"  At  Strasbourg  [October  3oth]  I  learn  that  the  Comte 
de  la  Luzerne  has  resigned  and  that  most  of  the  other  min 
isters  will  go  soon  ;  that  the  affairs  of  France  are  what  I 
supposed  they  about  this  time  would  be." 

"Arrived  in  Paris  on  November  6th.  I  take  up  my 
quarters  at  the  Hotel  du  Roi.  After  I  am  dressed,  take  a 
fiacre  and  visit  at  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  She  is  abroad, 
but  Monsieur  presses  me  much  to  pass  the  evening.  I  go 


352  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

to  club,  where  I  find  the  aristocratic  sentiment  prevails  not 
a  little.  Again  go  to  the  Louvre.  Madame  is  at  the 
Comedie.  She  returns,  and  seems  glad  to  see  me.  I  find 
that  Lord  Wycombe  is  un  ennichd id.  Dine  at  Madame  de 
Segur's.  They  put  me  a  little  au  fait  of  what  is  going 
on.  The  Comte  de  Montmorin  gives  me  a  very  flattering 
reception.  See  M.  de  Lafayette,  who  affects  to  be  very  well 
pleased  to  see  me.  I  promise  to  dine  with  him  soon." 

"  When  I  go  to-day  [November  8th]  to  Lafayette's  din 
ner,  he  is  so  late  that  he  does  not  sit  down  till  we  have  half 
dined  ;  retires  soon  after,  and  we  have  not  time  to  hold  the 
conversation  which  he  wished.  After  leaving  here  I  meet 
the  Bishop  of  Autun  at  the  Louvre,  and  desire  him  to  ad 
vise  Lafayette  to  the  same  conduct  which  I  have  done  in 
a  very  delicate  circumstance.  He  has  obtained  from  the 
King  a  promise  to  choose  his  guard  among  the  late  Garde 
Fran^aise,  and  the  Jacobins  are  violent  on  the  occasion. 
He  says  that  he  has  a  right,  in  talking  to  the  King,  to  give 
his  opinion  as  well  as  any  other  citizen.  I  tell  him  he 
should  put  himself  on  different  ground,  and  say  that  he 
has  earnestly  recommended  the  measure  to  the  King,  it 
being  a  tribute  of  gratitude  to  those  brave  men  who  had 
so  signally  distinguished  themselves  in  favor  of  freedom. 
The  Bishop  is  entirely  of  my  opinion  and  will  speak,  but 
he  observes,  very  justly,  that  it  is  much  easier  to  convince 
Lafayette  than  to  determine  his  conduct." 

"To-day  [November  9th]  I  have  a  long  conversation 
with  Short  on  general  matters  and  matters  relating  to 
America.  I  tell  him  that  Robert  Morris's  contract  with 
the  farm,  which  Jefferson  considered  as  a  monopoly,  was 
the  only  means  of  destroying  that  monopoly  of  tobacco  in 
Virginia,  by  the  Scotch  factors,  which  really  existed. 
Give  him  some  reason  therefor.  We  have  a  few  words 
on  Lafayette's  subject.  He  expresses  his  astonishment  at 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  353 

this  man's  inaptitude  and  imbecility.  Poor  Lafayette ! 
He  begins  to  suffer  the  consequences  which  always  attend 
too  great  elevation.  II  s*  eclipse  au premier.  Short  also  tells 
me  that  La  Rochefoucault  is  terribly  puzzled  about  the 
affairs  of  impositions.  I  reply  that  this  is  always  the  case 
when  men  bring  metaphysical  ideas  into  the  business  of 
the  world ;  that  none  know  how  to  govern  but  those  who 
have  been  used  to  it,  and  such  men  have  rarely  either  time 
or  inclination  to  write  about  it.  The  books,  therefore, 
which  are  to  be  met  with  contain  mere  Utopian  ideas. 
After  this  I  go  to  the  salon  of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  and 
stay  out  the  company.  The  Comte  de  Luxembourg  has, 
according  to  custom,  much  to  whisper.  I  tell  him,  in 
plain  terms,  that  the  aristocratic  party  must  be  quiet  un 
less  they  wish  to  be  hanged." ' 

"While  in  London  I  bought  a  large  Newfoundland  dog  for 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  To-day  [November  loth]  I  take 
him  to  the  Palais  Royal,  where  I  go  to  dine  and  present 
him  to  her  Royal  Highness,  who  appears  much  pleased,  and 
the  Vicomte  de  Segur  Me  prend  en  amitie.'  Cela  s'entend. 
The  Count  and  I  take  a  turn  round  the  gardens  together, 
and  then  I  go  to  the  club,  where  I  murder  a  little  time.  It 
has  been  a  fine  day.  I  think  I  never  in  my  life  had  so 
many  different  things  agitating  my  mind  as  at  present, 
and  I  cannot  commence  one  affair  because  another  is  con 
stantly  obtruding.  Madame  de  Brehan  says  if  the  troubles 
last  she  will  go  and  live  with  me  in  America.  I  of  course 
agree  to  the  arrangement." 

"After  dinner  [November  i2th],  go  to  the  opera.  I  sit 
behind  my  fickle  friend  Madame  de  Flahaut,  and  as,  luck 
ily,  the  music  makes  me  always  grave,  I  keep  still  in  the 
sentimental  style.  The  Comtesse  de  Prize  is  here,  to  whom 
I  pay  my  respects  in  the  adjoining  box.  After  the  opera 
luckily  I  meet  Madame  Foucault,  and  luckily  she  receives 


354  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

me  particularly  well.  I  take  care,  for  many  reasons,  that 
my  countenance  shall  beam  with  satisfaction.  Luckily  she 
expresses  herself  to  Madame  in  terms  very  favorable  to 
me." 

On  Saturday,  November  131!),  the  populace  pillaged  the 
hotel  of  the  Due  de  Castries.  This  was  about  the  first  of 
this  kind  of  depredation  in  Paris.  The  occasion  of  it,  Mor 
ris  says,  "is  that  the  Due  de  Castries  has  wounded  their 
favorite,  Charles  de  la  Meth,  in  a  duel,  which  he  had  drawn 
upon  himself  by  insulting  the  Duke.  The  history  seems 
curious.  M.  de  Chauvigny  comes  to  Paris  for  the  pur 
pose  of  fighting  with  Charles  de  la  Meth,  who,  as  he  says, 
fermented  an  insurrection  in  the  regiment  to  which  he 
belongs.  All  this  I  learned  at  M.  Boutin's,  where  M.  de 
Chauvigny,  introduced  by  his  brother,  a  bishop,  related 
what  had  passed  on  the  subject.  He  had  called  on  M.  de 
la  Meth,  whose  friends,  at  a  rendezvous  given,  told  him  that 
M.  de  la  Meth  would  not  fight  till  the  constitution  was  fin 
ished.  The  other  replied  that  he  must  in  that  case,  until 
the  completion  of  it,  continue  to  assert  on  every  occasion 
that  M.  de  la  Meth  was  a  coward.  This  thing  being  again 
in  question  at  the  Assemblee,  De  la  Meth  declared  that  he 
would  not  have  an  affair  with  Chauvigny  until  he  had  set 
tled  with  the  Due  de  Castries  (colonel  of  the  regiment) 
'  qui  m'a  detache  ce  spadassin-la.'  De  Castries,  of  course, 
requires  satisfaction,  and  they  proceed  to  the  ground, 
where  the  friends  of  De  la  Meth,  who  is  an  excellent 
swordsman,  object  to  his  fighting  with  pistols.  De  Cas 
tries,  like  a  true  chevalier,  agrees  to  decide  the  matter  aux 
armes  blanches,  and  wounds  his  antagonist.  The  populace 
in  consequence  destroy  the  property  of  his  father.  This 
is  rare  ;  I  think  it  will  produce  some  events  which  are  not 
now  dreamt  of.  The  Assemblee  (in  the  hands  of  the  Jaco 
bins)  have,  it  is  said,  sanctioned  the  doings  of  this  day." 


1790. j  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  355 

"  This  morning  [November  i4th]  the  Comte  de  Moustier 
calls  on  me.  We  discuss  his  plan  of  a  constitution  together, 
and  he  tells  me  that  he  stands  better  at  court  than  ever  he 
expected.  He  says  he  is  personally  in  favor  with  the 
Queen,  and  he  expects  to  be  consulted  on  affairs  by  and 
by.  The  King  and  Queen,  he  tells  me,  are  determined  not 
to  abuse  their  authority  if  ever  they  recover  it.  He  tells 
me  incidentally  that  both  the  King  and  Queen  have  men 
tioned  me  to  him,  the  former  twice,  and  that  I  stand  well 
in  their  opinion.  This  may  perhaps  be  useful  to  my  coun 
try  at  some  future  period. 

"  Visit  Madame  de  Flahaut.  It  seems  to  me  from  ap 
pearances  that  Lord  Wycombe  is  expected,  and  I  tell  her 
so,  but  she  says  it  is  the  Bishop.  Company  come  in  im 
mediately  after  me — Madame  de  Laborde  and  Madame  de 
la  Tour,  after  them  Montesqutou;  and  while  we  are  all 
here  enter  Lord  Wycombe,  who  is  at  once  established  as 
the  person  to  whom  a  rendezvous  is  given.  We  all  go 
away,  but  I  presently  after  return  and  tell  her,  *  Que  je  lui 
serai  a  charge  pour  quelques  moments  de  plus.'  My  Lord 
is  more  disconcerted  than  my  lady.  He  seems  not  yet  ad 
vanced  to  the  point  which  these  things  tend  to.  Go  from 
hence  to  club,  where  I  find  there  are  some  who  justify  the 
populace  for  yesterday's  business.  M.  de  Moustier  told 
me  that  Montmorin  had  asked  for  Carmichael  as  minister 
at  this  Court,  which  might  excite  opposition  to  Madison 
and  Short,  the  present  competitors.  It  is  a  question  in  my 
mind  as  to  this  request  having  been  made  by  Montmorin." 

"  I  hear  to-day  [November  i5th]  at  Madame  de  Chastel- 
lux's  the  wish  of  the  Garde  des  Sceaux  *  to  converse  with 

*  M.  Duport  du  Tertre,  a  member  of  the  electoral  body  of  Paris,  became 
Garde  des  Sceaux,  or,  rather,  Minister  of  Justice  (for  the  post  of  chancellor  was 
abolished  soon  after  he  came  into  the  ministry)  early  in  November,  1790.  At 
this  time,  of  the  old  ministry  there  only  remained  Saint-Priest  of  the  Interior, 
and  Montmorin  of  Foreign  Affairs.  The  advent  of  M.  Duport  du  Tertre  ex- 


356  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

me.  I  promise  to  wait  upon  him.  The  Duchess  of  Or 
leans  reproaches  me  for  absenting  myself,  and  I  promise 
to  dine  with  her  to-morrow.  At  eight  o'clock  I  go  by  ap 
pointment  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's.  She  has  not  returned 
from  the  Varietes,  but  desires  I  will  wait.  I  am  unluckily 
obliged  to  do  so,  having  promised  Capellis  to  spend  the 
evening  here.  At  half  after  eight  she  comes  in,  and  Ma 
demoiselle  Duplessis  *  with  her.  I  show  more  ill-humor 
than  consists  with  good  sense  or  politeness  ;  at  least,  sucli 
would  be  the  opinion  of  most  observers.  She  is  full  of 
apologies,  but  I  treat  both  them  and  her  like  a  Turk.  She 
is  very  conciliating  in  her  manner  and  words,  and  proposes 
a  rendezvous  for  to-morrow  evening,  which  I  refuse  to 
accept  of.  At  length,  however,  she  prevails,  but  as  we  go 
in  to  supper  together  I  tell  her  that  she  will  probably  fail 
if  a  new  comedy  offers  itself." 

"To-day  [November  i6th],  according  to  my  promise,  I 
dine  at  the  Palais  Royal,  and,  as  the  Princess  is  alone  when 
I  come  in,  I  converse  a  little  with  her  in  a  manner  to  gain 
somewhat  on  her  good  will.  After  dinner  I  keep  my  ren 
dezvous  with  Madame  de  Flahaut,  but  I  find  her  surround 
ed.  Lord  Wycombe,  the  Comte  de  Luxembourg,  M.  de  St. 
Foi  are  there,  so  I  leave.  My  letters  to-day  are  not  pleas 
ant.  M.  de  Flahaut  expresses  a  wish  to  go  as  minister  to 
America,  and  desires  me  to  prevail  on  his  wife  to  consent 
to  such  a  step,  should  it  become  possible  to  obtain  the 
place.  I  promise  to  speak  to  her  on  the  subject.  Go 
and  sit  some  time  with  Madame  de  Montmorin.  She 
expresses  her  conviction  that  Lafayette  is  below  his  busi- 

cited  great  enthusiasm  in  ministerial  circles.  He  was  a  simple,  modest  man 
with  a  limited  fortune,  and  of  recognized  uprightness  of  character.  He  signed 
the  order  of  arrest  of  the  fugitive  king,  and  finally  lost  his  head  in  June, 
1791- 

*  Mademoiselle  Duplessis  was  a  member  of  Madame  de  Flahaut's  fam- 
ily. 


I79Q.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  357 

ness,  which  is  very  true.  She  says  that  the  Queen  will  not 
consent  to  make  her  husband  governor  of  the  children  of 
France  ;  that  the  aristocrats  abhor  him.  At  dinner  we 
converse  about  the  play  of  this  evening,  *  Brutus,'  which  is 
expected  to  excite  much  disturbance.  After  six  o'clock 
Bouinville  and  I  go  to  the  play.  At  leaving  the  roopi,  as 
it  is  supposed  that  there  will  be  three  parties  in  the  house, 
I  cry,  in  a  style  of  rant,  'Je  me  declare  pour  le  Roi,  et 
je  vole  a  lavictoire.'  We  cannot  find  seats,  wherefore  I  go 
to  the  loge  of  d'Angivilliers,  and  find  that  I  was  expected, 
having  promised  to  come  and  then  forgotten  it.  Lord 
Wycombe  is  established  here,  next  to  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut,  in  the  place  which  I  occupied  formerly.  St.  Foi  is 
here,  a  cunning  observer.  I  determine,  therefore,  to  play 
them  all  three,  and  I  think  succeed  pretty  well.  Propose 
to  her  to  make  the  old  fox  believe  she  is  attached  to  the 
young  lord,  which  she  exclaims  against.  She  is,  however, 
resolved,  I  think,  to  attach  him,  and  may  perhaps  singe 
her  wings  while  she  flutters  around  that  flame.  The  piece 
excites  a  great  deal  of  noise  and  altercation,  but  the  parterre 
filled  with  democrats  obtains  the  victory  clearly,  and,  hav 
ing  obtained  it,  roars  for  above  ten  minutes,  'Vive  le  Roi.' 
After  the  play  a  motion  is  made  to  place  the  bust  of  Vol 
taire  on  the  stage  and  crown  it,  which  is  complied  with 
amid  repeated  acclamations.  I  write,  for  the  amusement 
of  our  party,  these  lines  : 


See,  France,  in  Freedom's  mantle  gay, 

Her  former  state  disdains, 
Yet  proud  her  fav'rite  Bard  t'obey, 

Tho'  dead,  his  spirit  reigns. 

The  common  road  to  power  he  trod, 
Cried,  '  Pull  all  tyrants  down,' 

And,  making  of  the  mob  a  god, 
Has  gained  from  them  a  crown. 


358  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

I  give  them  to  Madame  de  Flahaut,  desiring  her  to  pass 
them  to  my  lord.  He  is  well  pleased  with  them,  and  this, 
as  it  enables  her  to  magnify  her  merits  by  her  friends, 
must  of  course  please  her.  She  wishes  to  fix  an  appoint 
ment  with  me  for  Friday  morning,  but  I  desire  her  to 
write  her  hour  in  season  for  me  to  reply,  that,  if  there  be 
anything  to  prevent  my  attendance,  I  can  inform  her.  She 
is  a  coquette,  and  very  fickle." 

"  Go  to  dine  with  the  Garde  des  Sceaux  [November 
i8th].  His  domestics  know  not  what  to  make  of  me,  a 
thing  which  frequently  happens  at  my  first  approach,  be 
cause  the  simplicity  of  my  dress  and  equipage,  my  wooden 
leg,  and  tone  of  republican  equality  seem  totally  mis 
placed  at  the  levee  of  a  minister.  He  is  yet  in  his  closet. 
I  find  in  the  circle  no  one  of  my  acquaintance  except  Du- 
pont  the  economist,  who  never  took  notice  of  a  letter  I 
brought  from  his  son,  and  seems  a  little  ashamed  of  it. 
The  reception  of  the  minister  is  flattering  and  his  atten 
tions  great,  so  that  those  who  had  placed  themselves  next 
him  feel  themselves  misplaced.  After  dinner  he  takes  me 
aside  to  know  my  sentiments.  I  tell  him  that  I  consider 
the  Revolution  a  project  that  has  failed  ;  that  the  evils  of 
anarchy  must  restore  authority  to  the  sovereign  ;  that  he 
ought  to  continue  a  mere  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the 
Assembly,  etc.  As  to  him,  the  minister,  he  should,  when 
he  quits  his  place,  go  directly  from  the  King's  closet  to  his 
seat  in  the  Assembly,  and  there  become  the  advocate  of 
royal  authority:  He  approves  of  my  ideas,  except  for  him 
self,  and  says  he  has  need  of  repose.  This  is  idle,  and 
I  tell  him  so.  Ask  him  whether  he  intends  to  resign 
(Madame  de  Flahaut  told  me  so  last  evening,  having 
learned  it  from  her  Bishop).  He  says  that  he  knows 
nothing  about  it ;  that  he  shall  retire  whenever  the  King 
pleases.  After  our  conversation  the  Abbe  d'Andrezelle  has 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  359 

a  long  entretien.  He  tells  me  of  a  society  formed  for  a  cor 
respondence  with  the  provinces  to  counteract  the  Jacobins. 
I  give  him  some  ideas  on  that  subject  for  which  he  ex 
presses  himself  to  be  much  obliged,  and  asks  me  to  be 
present  at  one  of  their  meetings,  which  I  consent  to." 

"  I  am  pressed  by  the  Bishop  d'Autun  to  stay  to  dinner 
at  the  Louvre  [November  i9th],  but  I  go  to  the  Palais 
Royal.  We  meet  here  the  Due  de  Laval.  After  dinner  I 
have  some  conversation  with  him  and  the  Comte  de  Thiard, 
from  whence  I  apprehend  that  a  serious  plan  is  laid  for 
introducing  troops  of  the  Emperor  in  order  to  liberate  the 
King  and  Queen,  and  restore  the  former  government. 
After  dinner  go  to  the  Comedie  Francaise,  and  sit  with  the 
Duchess  to  hear  '  Brutus.'  Thence  to  Madame  de  Segur's, 
where  I  take  up  Madame  de  Chastellux.  They  lament  to 
me  that  Lafayette  has  lost  his  influence.  In  the  way  home 
she  tells  me  that  she  is  persuaded  there  will  be  an  effort 
made  by  the  Emperor  in  favor  of  his  sister.  I  hinted  to 
the  Comte  de  Thiard  the  advantages  that  would  result 
from  putting  the  Dauphin  into  the  hands  of  governors, 
and  sending  him  upon  his  travels.  Many  of  the  discon 
tented  nobles  and  clergy  of  France  are  urgent  with  the 
chief  of  the  empire  to  avenge  the  insults  offered  to  his  un 
fortunate  sister.  So  fair  a  pretext,  such  plausible  reasons, 
both  public  and  private,  joined  to  a  great  political  interest 
and  personal  territorial  claims,  might  determine  an  enter 
prising  prince.  But  he  is  cautious,  trusting  more  in  art 
than  in  force..  How  will  it  all  end  ?  This  unhappy  coun 
try,  bewildered  in  the  pursuit  of  metaphysical  whimsies, 
presents  to  one's  moral  view  a  mighty  ruin.  Like  the 
remnantsof  ancient  magnificence,  we  admire  the  architect 
ure  of  the  temple,  while  we  detest  the  false  god  to  whom 
it  was  dedicated.  Daws  and  ravens,  and  the  birds  of  night 
now  build  their  nests  in  its  niches ;  the  sovereign,  hum- 


360  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

bled  to  the  level  of  a  beggar's  pity,  without  resources, 
without  authority,  without  a  friend;  the  Assembly,  at  once 
a  master  and  a  slave — new  in  power,  wild  in  theory,  raw 
in  practice,  it  engrosses  all  functions,  though  incapable  of 
exercising  any,  and  has  taken  from  this  fierce,  ferocious 
people  every  restraint  of  religion  and  of  respect.  Here 
conjecture  may  wander  through  unbounded  space.  What 
sum  of  misery  may  be  requisite  to  change  popular  will, 
calculation  cannot  determine.  What  circumstances  may 
arise  in  the  order  of  divine  will  to  give  direction  to  that 
will,  our  sharpest  vision  cannot  discover.  What  talents 
may  be  found  to  seize  those  circumstances  to  influence 
that  will,  and,  above  all,  to  moderate  the  power  which  it 
must  confer,  we  are  equally  ignorant.  One  thing  only 
seems  to  be  tolerably  ascertained,  that  the  glorious  op 
portunity  is  lost,  and  (for  this  time  at  least)  the  Revolution 
has  failed." 

"The  Bishop  comes  in  [November  23d]  while  I  am  at 
Madame  de  Flahaut's  to-day,  and  as  my  carriage  was  sent 
away  he  is  grave.  Leave  them,  and  go  to  the  Comte  de 
Montmorin's.  Before  dinner,  the  Due  de  Liancourt  and 
Montesquiou  being  there,  in  the  course  of  conversation  on 
the  actings  and  doings  of  the  Assemblee,  I  say  that  the 
constitution  they  have  proposed  is  such  that  the  Almighty 
himself  could  not  make  it  succeed  without  creating  a  new 
species  of  man.  After  dinner  I  converse  a  little  with 
Montmorin  about  his  own  situation.  He  feels  himself 
very  awkward,  not  knowing  whether  to  stay  or  go,  or,  stay 
ing,  what  to  clo.  Montesquiou  comes  up,  and  asks  in 
formation  from  me  respecting  the  debt  from  America  to 
France.  In  the  result  of  his  inquiries  it  is  agreed  between 
him  and  Montmorin  that  no  proposition  shall  be  accepted 
without  taking  first  my  opinion  on  it.  Go  from  hence  to 
Madame  de  Segur's.  A  little  comedy  is  acted  here  by  the 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  361 

children,  the  subject  of  which  is  the  pleasure  derived  to  the 
whole  family  by  an  infant  of  which  the  countess  was  late 
ly  delivered.  The  play  is  written  by  the  father  to  whom 
I  address  in  the  course  of  it  these  lines : 

For  perfecting  the  comic  art, 

Let  others  take  a  single  part — 

While  you,  my  friend,  with  nobler  soul, 

Embrace  at  once  the  mighty  whole  ; 

For  here  we  see  arise  from  you, 

The  subject,  play,  and  actors  too. 

As  soon  as  the  piece  is  finished  I  slip  away.  Madame  de 
Lafayette,  who  was  here,  reproaches  me  a  little  for  desert 
ing  them.  Monsieur  has  long  been  giddy  from  his  eleva 
tion.  When  he  is  a  little  sober  I  will  see  whether  he  can 
any  longer  be  useful  to  his  country  or  mine.  I  rather 
doubt  it.  Go  to  the  Louvre,  and  find  Madame  has  quar 
relled  with  her  Bishop,  who  is  jealous  of  me.  In  conse 
quence  of  the  quarrel  she  is  very  ill,  and  surrounded  by 
friends  and  servants. 

"  After  dining  with  Madame  de  Foucault  [November 
25th]  I  go  to  Lafayette's  ;  Madame  receives  me  coolly 
enough.  I  stay  some  time,  leaning  on  the  chimney- 
piece.  He  comes  out,  and  as  soon  as  he  sees  me  ap 
proaches.  Asks  why  I  do  not  come  to  see  him.  I  answer 
that  I  do  not  like  to  mix  with  the  crowd  which  I  find  here ; 
that  whenever  I  can  be  useful,  I  am  at  his  orders.  He 
asks  my  opinion  of  his  situation.  I  give  it  sans  menage- 
ment,  and  while  I  speak  he  turns  pale.  I  tell  him  that  the 
time  approaches  when  all  good  men  must  cling  to  the 
throne  ;  that  the  present  King  is  very  valuable  on  account 
of  his  moderation,  and  if  he  should  possess  too  great  au 
thority  might  be  persuaded  to  grant  a  proper  constitution  ; 
that  the  thing  called  a  constitution  which  the  Assembly 
have  framed  is  good  for  nothing ;  that  as  to  himself,  his 


362  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

personal  situation  is  very  delicate  ;  that  he  nominally,  but 
not  really,  commands  his  troops  ;  that  I  really  cannot  tell 
how  he  is  to  establish  discipline  among  them,  but  that 
unless  he  can  accomplish  that  object  he  must  be  ruined 
sooner  or  later ;  that  the  best  line  of  conduct,  perhaps, 
would  be  to  seize  an  occasion  of  disobedience  and  resign, 
by  which  means  he  would  preserve  a  reputation  in  France 
which  would  be  precious,  and  hereafter  useful.  He  says 
that  he  is  only  raised  by  circumstances  and  events,  so  that 
when  they  cease  he  sinks,  and  the  difficulty  comes  in  how 
to  excite  them.  I  take  care  not  to  express  even  by  a  look 
my  contempt  and  abhorrence,  but  simply  observe  that 
events  will  arise  fast  enough  of  themselves  if  he  can  but 
make  a  good  use  of  them,  which  I  doubt,  because  I  do 
not  place  any  confidence  in  his  troops. 

"  He  asks  what  I  think  of  a  plan  in  agitation  with  re 
spect  to  the  protesting  Bishops  ;  viz.,  to  withhold  their 
revenues.  I  tell  him  that  the  Assemblee  must  turn  them 
out  of  doors  naked  if  they  wish  the  people  to  clothe  them. 
He  says  he  is  a  little  afraid  of  that  consequence.  I  reiter 
ate  to  him  the  necessity  of  restoring  the  nobility,  at  which, 
of  course,  he  flinches,  and  says  he  should  like  two  cham 
bers,  as  in  America.  I  tell  him  that  an  American  consti 
tution  will  not  do  for  this  country,  and  that  two  such 
chambers  would  not  answer  where  there  is  an  hereditary 
executive  ;  that  every  country  must  have  a  constitution 
suited  to  its  circumstances,  and  the  state  of  France  re 
quires  a  higher  toned  government  than  that  of  England. 
He  starts  at  this  with  astonishment.  I  pray  him  to  re 
mark  that  England  is  surrounded  by  a  deep  ditch,  and, 
being  only  assailable  by  sea,  can  permit  many  things  at 
home  which  would  not  be  safe  in  different  situations  ;  that 
her  safety  depends  on  her  marine,  to  the  preservation  of 
which  every  right  and  privilege  of  her  citizens  is  sacri- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  363 

ficed  ;  that  in  all  possible  governments  the  first  care  must 
be  general  preservation.  He  tells  me  the  intended  minis 
ters  ;  they  are  all  taken  from  among  the  people,  and  thus, 
without  knowing  it,  the  people  will  find  an  additional  tie 
to  the  great  envy  of  their  fellows." 

"  Dine  with  Madame  de  Flahaut  [November  27th].  She 
tells  me  that  the  Bishop  is  well  with  the  Queen.  Cela 
s'entend.  She  tells  me  that  De  Moustier  speaks  illy  of  me 
at  Madame  d'Angivilliers.*  He  is  wrong.  Lord  Wycombe 
calls  after  dinner,  and  is  seated  a  cote\  comme  d' usage" 

"At  two  [November  28th]  I  visit  Duportail,f  the  new 
Minister  at  War,  and  go  from  thence  to  the  Louvre. 
Lord  Wycombe  is  here,  and  has  had  the  whole  morning, 
say  from  ten  to  two.  He  goes  away,  being  pressed  by 
Madame  to  return  in  the  evening.  She  says  he  told  her 
that  she  loved  me,  which  at  first  she  laughed  at,  but  after 
ward  seriously  refuted.  She  insists  on  my  partaking  of 
her  dinner.  Monsieur  seems  displeased.  After  dinner  she 
sends  me  with  Mademoiselle  Duplessis  to  visit  Madame  de 
Guibert,  who  gives  me  a  eulogy  on  her  late  husband  by 
one  of  his  friends.  When  we  return,  my  lord  is  established 
a  cott.  The  Marquis  de  Montesquiou  is  merry  at  having 
found  them  so  situated.  I  leave  this  society,  and  visit  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux.  The  conversation  of  this  last  society 
was  quite  high  in  the  aristocratic  tone.  The  idea  of  car 
rying  off  the  King  is  mentioned.  My  fair  friend  talked  to 
me  of  presenting  to  Lord  Wycombe  the  cup  formerly 
given  to  me,  and  which  I  had  sent  back.  I  think  it  prob 
able  that  she  has  already  bestowed  it  on  him." 

11  Dine  to-day  [November  29th]  at  M.  de  Montmorin's. 

*  In  the  salon  of  Madame  d'Angivilliers,  so  frequented  during  the  eigh 
teenth  century,  and  so  full  of  economic  and  advanced  ideas  of  all  kinds,  the 
Revolution  found  congenial  soil  and  nourished  vigorously. 

t  M.  Duportail  succeeded  M.  la  Tour  du  Pin.  He  had  gained  distinction 
in  the  American  Revolution. 


364.  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

Lafayette  comes  in,  and  Madame  de  Montmorin  observes 
that  he  does  not  seem  very  glad  to  see  me.  She  asks  the 
reason.  I  tell  her  that  I  lately  told  him  some  truths  which 
differed  so  much  from  the  style  of  flattery  he  has  been  ac 
customed  to  that  he  is  not  well  pleased  with  it.  Mont 
morin  observes  that  Lafayette  has  not  abilities  enough  to 
carry  through  his  affairs.  He  says  that  within  a  month 
past  things  have  appeared  to  him  much  worse  than  they 
were.  He  seems  apprehensive  of  a  visit  from  foreign 
powers,  and  that  the  Comte  d'Artois  and  Prince  of  Conde 
may  play  a  deep  game.  Nous  verrons.  \  go  to  the  play 
with  Madame  de  Beaumont,  and  am  placed  luckily  oppo 
site  to  my  fair  friend.  I  know  not  whether  she  observes 
me,  but  if  she  does  it  will  be  useful." 

Just  at  this  time  more  frequent  applications  were  made 
to  Morris  for  advice  about  American  lands,  but  he  felt 
that  it  would  hardly  do  for  him  to  bear  the  responsi 
bility  of  "  exciting  French  citizens  to  abandon  their  native 
country."  He  was  therefore  anxious  that  an  office  should 
be  opened  in  Paris  where  maps  could  be  seen  and  titles 
lodged.  Writing  about  this  to  Robert  Morris,  he  says : 
1  Purchasers  here  are  for  the  most  part  ignorant  of  geog 
raphy.  So  far  from  thinking  the  forests  a  disadvantage, 
they  are  captivated  with  the  idea  of  having  their  chateaux 
surrounded  by  magnificent  trees.  They  naturally  expect 
superb  highways  over  the  pathless  desert,  and  see  with  the 
mind's  eye  numerous  barges  in  every  stream.  Le  Coul- 
teux  was  afraid  to  appear  in  the  sale  of  your  lands  lest 
the  fashionable  system  of  the  *  lanterne  '  should  be  applied." 
"  I  go  to  the  Palais  Royal  to-day  [November  3oth]  to 
dine  with  the  Duchess,  but  she  dines  abroad  and  I  go  to 
the  club.  The  restaurateur  is  not  a  good  one  ;  his  wine  is 
very  bad.  Call  at  Madame  de  Segur's.  She  is  in  bed. 
Wishes  to  know  the  purport  of  my  conversation  with  La- 


1790.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  365 

fayette.  I  tell  her  that  I  told  him  many  serious  truths, 
which  were  not  to  his  taste.  I  take  the  Vicomte  de  Segur 
to  Madame  de  Chastellux's,  where  he  reads  a  little  comedy 
called  ;  Le  Nouveau  Cercle,'  which  is  not  without  merit, 
but  he  reads  too  well  to  judge  of  it.  For  the  rest,  he  has 
made  himself  the  principal  character  of  the  piece.  Lady 
Gary  is  here,  an  Irishwoman  who  has,  I  believe,  the  merit 
of  keeping  a  good  house  in  Paris.  Leave  this  at  a  little 
after  nine  and  go  to  the  Louvre.  My  lord  is  here,  of 
course  ;  an  observation  which  I  make  on  the  assignats 
strikes  him  very  forcibly.  If  I  am  not  much  mistaken,  he 
will  quote  it.  His  manner  of  seizing  it  shows  a  discerning 
mind.  Madame  de  Flahaut  apologizes  for  having  been 
abroad  this  morning;  had  I  told  her  I  would  call  she 
would  have  staid  at  home.  I  reply  coolly  that  I  came  late, 
that  I  might  not  interrupt  her  conversation  with  her  new 
friend.  She  feels  this  cutting  sarcasm.  She  passed  the 
day  with  the  Bishop,  whose  leg  is  hurt — a  strain  of  the  an 
kle.  I  let  her  make  inquiries  about  the  play,  where  I  be 
lieve  she  did  not  see  me,  and  my  answers  will  be  a  little 
disquieting." 

"  My  letters  are  extremely  disquieting.  I  rise  this  morn 
ing  [December  ist]  before  day,  after  a  night  of  sleepless 
anxiety.  Sit  down  to  write  by  candle-light,  and  get  all  my 
letters  finished  in  season.  Receive  a  note  from  Madame 
de  Flahaut,  desiring  me  to  come  between  ten  and  eleven, 
as  she  is  to  visit  Madame  d'Angiviliers  at  half-past  twelve. 
I  find  her  ill  and  complaining.  I  have  not  the  disposition 
either  to  quarrel  or  enjoy.  Monsieur  desires  me  twice  to 
remind  her,  at  a  quarter  after  twelve,  that  she  is  to  visit 
her  sister.  I  tell  her  that  every  post  since  I  have  been 
here  brings  me  afflicting  intelligence.  She  wishes  to  know 
what  it  is,  but  I  tell  her  that  is  unnecessary ;  I  mention  it 
in  general,  that  she  may  not  be  surprised  at  my  behavior. 


366  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

At  twelve  Lord  Wycombe  calls,  and  stays.  I  remind  her 
repeatedly  of  her  engagement  to  her  sister,  and  stay  him 
out,  for  which  I  apologize  to  her.  Go  to  call  on  Le  Coul- 
teux.  He  is  abroad.  Madame  is  going  out,  and  is  half- 
stripped  when  I  enter.  During  the  few  minutes  which  I 
stay  she  mentions  a  curious  anecdote  of  the  Comte  de  Pilau. 
He  is  become  devout  to  a  most  astonishing  degree,  and  in 
all  the  bigotry  of  the  Romish  Church  ;  a  man  who  was 
driven  by  the  priesthood  from  Spain  on  account  of  his  re 
ligion,  or,  rather,  the  want  of  it ;  a  man  who  abandoned 
an  immense  fortune  for  the  sake  of  avoiding  exterior 
ceremonies.  O  God !  how  weak,  how  inconsistent,  how 
wretched  is  man.  Go  to  Mademoiselle  Martin's  and  buy 
a  pot  of  rouge  to  take  to  my  sister  in  London.  I  tell  the 
Bishop  of  Autun  to-day  that  he  ought,  if  possible,  to  ob 
tain  tiie  embassy  to  Vienna." 

"Sir  John  Miller  visits  me  to-day  [December  6th],  and 
talks  of  weights  and  measures.  Dine  at  the  Palais  Royal. 
After  dinner  visit  M.  de  Lafayette.  He  is  in  a  peck  of 
little  troubles.  I  make  my  visit  short.  Madame's  recep 
tion  is  a  la  glace.  Return  to  the  Palais  Royal,  and  take 
Madame  de  Chastellux  to  the  Louvre.  At  coming  away 
Madame  de  Flahaut  desires  me  to  take  her  to  Madame  de 
Corney's.  I  am  quite  indifferent  to  her,  and  she  asks  me 
the  reason.  I  rally  her  on  her  connection  with  my  lord, 
who  is  to  have  this  evening  again,  not  having  had  an  op 
portunity  to  converse  as  he  wished  this  morning.  She 
offers  me  a  present  which  he  made  her,  but  I  tell  her  I 
will  accept  of  nothing  but  a  picture  of  her  now  in  posses 
sion  of  her  Bishop,  and  that  I  will  have  it.  I  tell  her  when 
I  go  away  she  will  forget  me.  This  she  has  long  known. 
I  tell  her  that  my  reception  when  I  last  saw  her  was  such 
that,  if  Madame  de  Chastellux  had  not  asked  me  to  bring 
her,  I  should  not  have  given  the  trouble  of  my  visit. 


I7QO.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  367 

Arrived  again  at  the  Louvre,  I  hand  her  out  and  am  about 
to  return,  but  she  insists  on  my  going  up.  Arrived  there, 
I  take  leave,  but  am  persuaded  to  stay  a  little  while.  Her 
pride  speaks  a  high  language.  She  then  either  is,  or  pre 
tends  to  be,  ill.  Monsieur  comes  up,  and  after  a  few  words 
I  again  take  leave,  but  she  begs  me  in  English  to  stay. 
The  Bishop  comes  in;  I  speak  to  him  again  on  the  subject 
of  an  embassy  to  Vienna,  and  mark  out  the  means  of  suc 
ceeding.  I  tell  him  that  at  present  it  is  equally  dangerous 
to  be  either  in  or  out  of  the  Assemblee  ;  that  a  foreign 
embassy  is  the  only  means  of  preserving  himself  en  evidence, 
and  that  if  he  can  make  himself  the  confidential  man  be 
tween  the  Queen  and  her  brother,  he  will  be  in  the  straight 
road  to  greatness,  whenever  circumstances  will  render  it 
desirable.  After  he  is  gone  I  stay  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  follow  him." 

"  I  receive  a  letter  to-day  [December  8th]  brought  by 
the  English  mail  urging  my  departure  for  London.  Go 
to  the  Louvre,  according  to  my  promise,  and  find  Madame 
de  Flahaut  in  bed  writing  to  her  Lord.  ...  In  the 
evening  go  to  the  Palais  Royal  and  attend  the  reading  of  a 
tragedy  written  by  M.  de  Sabran  at  fourteen  years  of  age. 
It  is  very  well  written,  but  before  it  is  finished  I  am  called 
away  by  M.  de  Flahaut.  Return  to  the  Louvre,  and  sup. 
I  lend  Madame  i,2oof.  in  paper  to  redeem  so  much  gold, 
which  she  has  pawned.  I  do  not  expect  to  be  repaid." 

These  last  months  of  1790  found  Paris  in  a  melancholy 
way.  While  the  democratic  revolution,  with  heads  on  pikes, 
went  steadily  and  surely  on,  the  aristocratic  mode  of  help 
ing  a  man  out  of  the  world  went  as  steadily  on  in  the  Bois 
de  Boulogne,  turned  into  a  meeting-place  for  excitements 
of  all  kinds  ;  the  resort  of  lovers,  duellists,  idlers,  and 
tramps  of  every  description.  In  1790  a  challenge  and  a 
rendezvous  under  the  trees  there  was  quite  the  proper 


368  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVI. 

thing,  and  one  word  spoken  in  anger,  or  the  appearance 
of  a  cockade,  was  sufficient  pretext  for  an  exhibition  of 
skill  with  the  sword — or  the  pistol,  lately  introduced  from 
England,  which  had  met  with  much  applause.  In  vain  the 
authorities  pleaded  the  aristocratic  tendency  of  this  way 
of  settling  differences.  No  one  listened.  People  must  be 
amused.  Paris  was  rapidly  emptying  ;  art  had  gone  ;  the 
dancer  had  gone  ;  the  marc  hands  de  modes  went,  leaving 
Paris  to  the  mercy  of  the  provinces  for  its  fashions,  from 
whence  came  strange  things — bonnets  trimmed  with  yellow 
flowers,  with  the  malicious  suggestion  that  they  were  "  au 
teint  de  la  constitution,"  and  there  seemed  in  this  deserted 
town  to  be  only  "fagotttres"  left.  But  the  roulette-table 
and  duelling  consoled  Paris.  "  Their  patriotism,"  Goncourt 
says,  "they  carried  in  their  white  cockade,  for  they  whis 
pered  and  wrote,  *  The  king  has  abandoned  us  ;  we  are  no 
longer  his  subjects.' " 


i79o.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  369 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Another  trip  to  London.  Stiffness  of  English  society.  Annoying  indiffer 
ence  of  the  Duke  of  Leeds  to  American  interests.  Returns  to  Paris. 
Dines  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Ternant  appointed  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States.  Conversation  with  M.  de 
Segur.  M.  de  Montmorin  wishes  Morris  appointed  Minister  from 
the  United  States.  Asked  to  confer  with  the  Committee  of  Com 
merce.  Dines  with  Lafayette.  Dines  with  Marmontel.  Lafayette 
vexed.  Madame  de  Nadaillac.  The  "farm  "  abolished  by  the  Assem 
bly.  The  tobacco  decrees.  Desired  to  write  a  letter  on  them. 
Letter  to  Washington  thereupon.  Some  details  of  the  affair  of  Octo 
ber  5th  at  Versailles.  Disturbance  in  Languedoc.  Trepidation  of 
the  Bishop  of  Autun.  Great  tumult  in  Paris.  Conversation  with 
Madame  de  Nadaillac.  The  Chateau  during  the  riot.  Lafayette 
confesses  the  guards  were  drunk.  Morris's  advice  to  him. 

IN  the  early  part  of  December  Morris  again  went 
to  London,  where  very  pressing  affairs  demanded  his 
personal  attention,  and  for  some  weeks,  with  wThat  resig 
nation  he  could  muster,  he  gave  himself  up  to  long,  dull, 
and  extremely  unsatisfactory  conversations  with  city  men. 
Mrs.  Siddons  was  somewhat  of  a  relief  from  the  monotony 
of  business,  but  he  only  speaks  of  seeing  her  a  few  times — 
once  in  "a  very  bad  piece  called  'Isabella,'  in  which  she 
acts  very  well."  The  stiffness  of  London  society  manners 
never  suited  his  taste,  and  he  invariably  found  the  rout 
and  the  evening  entertainment  tiresome,  and  his  only 
comment  was  that  there  was  no  pleasant  intercourse  be 
tween  the  men  and  women.  "  I  go,"  he  says,  "one  even 
ing  to  the  Duchess  of  Gordon's.  Here  in  one  room  the 
young  are  dancing,  and  in  another  the  old  are  gambling 
24 


3/O  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

at  a  faro-table.  I  stay  but  a  little  while,  for  the  party  is 
to  me  vastly  dull.  The  male  dancers  are  very  indifferent." 

He  again  presented  himself  (December  i8th)  at  the 
Duke  of  Leeds's  office,  hoping  to  find  that  his  affairs  with 
the  government  might  have  been  advanced.  He  found 
his  grace  "in  council,  but  that  breaks  up  while  I  am  here. 
Mr.  Burgess  tells  me  that  the  Duke  is  very  much  engaged. 
He  talks  a  great  deal,  but,  stripping  off  the  compliment 
and  profession,  what  he  says  amounts  to  no  more  than 
that  sundry  cabinet  councils  have  been  held  on  the  treaty 
with  America,  and  that  a  reference  has  been  made  of  the 
affair  three  months  ago  to  Lord  Hawkesbury,  whose  re 
port  has  not  yet  been  received.  I  answer  to  all  this,  very 
dryly,  that  I  have  presented  myself  to  let  them  know  that 
I  am  alive  ;  that  I  shall  write  from  hence  to  America  ; 
that  I  leave  town  next  week  ;  that  I  will  wait  on  the  Duke 
at  such  time  as  he  may  indicate  ;  that  if  I  learn  nothing 
more  than  that  things  are  just  as  I  left  them  I  shall  mere 
ly  say  so  ;  that  it  may  be  worth  their  while  to  consider 
whether  the  measures  proposed  last  session  in  Congress 
respecting  the  commerce  with  this  country  may  not  be 
adopted,  and  what  the  consequences  would  be." 

There  is  a  decided  flavor  of  republican  curtness  in  this 
message  left  for  his  grace  which  may  have  had  its  influ 
ence.  Certain  it  is,  however,  that  although  he  subse 
quently  made  two  appointments  to  meet  Morris,  profuse 
apologies  from  Mr.  Burgess,  and  many  regrets  that  "  the 
Duke  is  by  a  sudden  and  severe  indisposition  prevented 
from  meeting  me,"  was  all  the  satisfaction  the  latter 
got  from  his  grace.  Morris  was  not  slow  to  make  his 
ideas  known  with  regard  to  the  treatment  he — or,  rather, 
his  country — had  received  from  the  English  Government, 
and  he  mentioned  that,  "dining  one  day  with  Lord  Lans- 
downe,  we  have  a  great  deal  of  conversation  upon  vari- 


i79o.]  GOUVERNELJR   MORRIS.  3/1 

ous  subjects.  I  give  them  my  honest  sentiments  respect 
ing  Britain  and  America,  which  are  not  pleasing,  but  I  do 
not  mean  to  please." 

Not  long  after  this  he  was  back  in  Paris  again,  and 
making  an  early  visit  to  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  learn  the 
latest  news,  which  was  always  to  be  found  in  her  salon. 
"She  complains  bitterly,"  he  says,  January  19,  1791,  "of 
the  Bishop  of  Autun's  cold  cruelty.  He  is  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Department  of  Paris  and  resigns  his  bishopric. 
He  treats  her  ill.  His  passion  for  play  has  become  ex 
treme,  and  she  gives  me  instances  which  are  ridiculous.* 
He  comes  in,  and  I  come  away.  Visit  Madame  de  Chas- 
tellux,  and  go  with  her  to  dine  at  the  Duchess  of  Orleans'. 
Her  Royal  Highness  is  ruined  ;  that  is,  she  is  reduced 
from  45<D,ooof.  to  2oo,ooof.  She  tells  me  that  she  cannot 
give  any  good  dinners,  but  if  I  will  come  and  fast  with  her 
she  will  be  glad  to  see  me." 

"At  Madame  de  StaeTs  this  evening  [January  2ist]  I 
meet  the  world.  Stay  some  time  in  various  conversation, 
altogether  of  no  consequence.  This  morning  Ternant 
calls  and  takes  breakfast.  He  was  appointed  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States  last  Sunday.  We 
converse  a  little  about  his  mission.  He  wishes  me  to  be 
appointed  here.  I  tell  him  that  I  understood  from  De 
Moustier  that  Carmichael  has  been  asked  for.  He  says 
that  if  it  be  not  too  late  he  will  get  that  matter  altered. 
He  will  know  more  about  it,  and  tell  me. 

"  Go  to  the  Louvre.     M.  de  Flahaut  had  desired  to  see 

*  The  Bishop  of  Autun  was  accused  of  playing  so  high  that  he  made  a  pub 
lic  acknowledgment  of  his  gains  in  the  Chronique  de  Paris.  "  I  have  gained 
in  six  months,"  he  says,  "  not  in  the  gambling-houses,  but  in  the  society  of 
chess-clubs,  about  thirty  thousand  francs,"  and  seemed  to  think  he  had  made 
atonement  by  having  had  the  courage  to  acknowledge  his  errors.  He  did 
not,  however,  escape  from  the  sarcasm  of  the  pen  of  Camille  Desmoulins, 
who  said:  "The  Bishop  d'Autun  feels  called  upon  to  bring  back  all  the 
usages  of  the  primitive  church,  and  among  them  public  confession." 


3/2  DIARY  AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

me.  He  talks  about  sending  hardware  to  America  for 
sale,  a  friend  of  his  being  at  the  head  of  a  considerable 
manufactory.  I  tell  him  his  friend  may  call  some  morn 
ing  and  I  will  speak  to  him.  Go  to  Madame  du  Bourg's. 
They  are  at  play,  and  high  play,  too,  in  which  I  of  course 
take  no  part.  Come  away  early." 

"  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  to-day  [January  22d]  that 
she  has  a  gleam  of  hope  in  her  prospects,  and  I  will  try  to 
bring  it  to  some  end.  Go  to  see  Madame  de  Segur,  and 
take  her  a  present  of  some  apples,  etc.  Monsieur  is  with  his 
wife,  and,  the  conversation  turning  that  way,  the  pleasure 
a  man  feels  in  speaking  of  himself  leads  him  to  communi 
cate  the  history  of  the  war  between  Russia  and  the  Porte. 
From  his  statement,  England  embroiled  those  powers. 
Having  taken  the  history  a  great  way  back,  and  brought 
it  to  the  peace  which  concluded  the  former  war  between 
them,  he  states  that  the  Empress  took  on  herself  to  be 
the  liege  lord  (suzerain)  of  Georgia  ;  that  the  Afghis 
Tartars,  dwelling  about  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  who  are  con 
stantly  at  war  with  the  Georgians,  received  aid  from  the 
Pasha  in  their  neighborhood,  and  that  the  Tartars  of  the 
Cuban  made  frequent  depredations  on  the  Russian  terri 
tories  and  then  crossed  that  fordable  river  into  the  Turk 
ish  territory  ;  that  complaints  having  arisen  on  this  sub 
ject,  the  mediation  of  France  was  asked  and  accepted, 
and  he  and  M.  de  Choiseul-Gouffier  employed  them 
selves  efficaciously  in  settling  the  difference.  It  was 
agreed  that  the  Pasha  should  no  longer  give  aid  to  the 
Afghis  Tartars,  and  that  those  of  the  Cuban  should  not  be 
protected  after  their  inroads  as  before  ;  that  Prince  Po- 
temkin,  having  assembled  a  considerable  army  to  be  re 
viewed  by  the  Empress  in  that  quarter,  and  being  informed 
that  the  causes  of  complaint  continued  notwithstanding 
the  treaty,  sent  immediately  through  the  Russian  ambas- 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  373 

sador,  Bulgakow,  a  menacing  message  to  the  Turk  ;  that 
this  being  communicated  by  the  Reis  Effendi  to  M.  de 
Gouffier,    he,   much    surprised,  advised  the  Turk   imme 
diately  to  arm  and  informed  him,  Segur,  of  what  was  done 
and  doing  ;  that  he  thereupon  spoke  in  very  high  terms 
to  the  Russian  ministry,  who  laid  the  blame  upon  Prince 
Potemkin.  They  agreed  to  submit  to  any  reasonable  terms, 
and   although   those    proposed    through    M.   de  Gouffier 
by  the  Turk  were  conceived  rather  haughtily,  to  his  great 
surprise   they  were    acceded   to.     His   courier,  however, 
charged   with    that   intelligence,  was  intercepted   by  the 
Turkish   robbers,  and  murdered  ;   when  he  learned  that 
accident   he   immediately  sent    another,  but   before   that 
messenger  arrived  the  English  had  been  busy  in  dissuad 
ing   them  from  all   accommodation.     Their   ambassador, 
Mr.  -   — ,  told  the  Reis   Effendi  that  he  would  be  pow 
erfully  supported    by  Prussia  and   Poland  ;   that  if  Aus 
tria  should  join  Russia,  a  powerful  diversion  would   be 
made  by  the  revolt  in  Flanders  then  in  train  ;  that  they 
must  not  trust  to  France,  whose  favorite  system  it  was  to 
support  Russia,  with  whom  she  had  lately  formed  very 
close  connections,  and  of   course  could  not  be  cordially 
attached   to   the    Porte.      'The    reason    of   England   was 
(says  Segur)  that,  being  vexed  with  Russia  for  forming  a 
treaty   with  France    by  which,  among   other   things,  the 
principles  of  the  armed  neutrality  are  acknowledged,  and 
for  insisting   on   a  like  acknowledgment,  ,in  a  proposed 
renewal  of  the  treaty  with  England,  she  was  in  hopes  of 
making  a  breach  between  France  and  her  new  ally  Russia, 
or  her  new  ally  the  Turk.     In  consequence  of  the  British 
intrigues,  the  Porte  refused  to  accede  to  the  terms  which 
she  had  herself  proposed,  but  sent  others  in  a  style  im 
perious  and  dictatorial ;  that   he  was  much  hurt  at  this, 
but,  to  his  very  great  surprise,  the  Empress  acceded  to  those 


374  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

also,  but  by  the  time  that  her  despatches  were  ciphered, 
and  just  as  the  courier  was  about  to  depart,  they  learned 
that  the  Turk  had  actually  commenced  hostilities.  He 
says  that  he  long  since  informed  his  court  that  Hertzberg 
had  formed  vast  projects  menacing  all  Europe,  but  that 
no  attention  was  paid  to  his  information,  and,  on  the  con 
trary,  he  was  represented  as  a  firebrand,  desirous  of  gen 
eral  mischief  ;  that  he  very  early  proposed  the  triple 
alliance  of  Austria,  Russia,  and  France,  which  was  then 
rejected  and  has  never  been  completed  because,  finally,  the 
French  Revolution  prevented  a  ratification  by  France. 
He  says  that  the  late  Emperor  Joseph  told  him,  shortly 
before  his  death,  that  the  Empress  of  Russia  had  permitted 
him  to  make  a  separate  peace,  and  that  he  might  assure 
the  King  he  would  agree  to  give  up  Chorzim,  and  even  Bel 
grade,  to  effect  it.  We  pass  then  to  the  peace  of  Reichen- 
bach,  and  I  tell  him  the  manner  in  which  Van  Hertzberg 
became  the  dupe  of  his  own  contrivances.'  * 

"We  learn  this  day  some  news  which,  if  true,  will  affect 
a  little  the  affairs  of  this  country.  It  is  said  that  the  Cath 
olic  militia  of  Strasbourg  have  all  resigned  and  that  a  peti 
tion  is  arrived,  signed  by  four  thousand  persons,  to  which 
a  much  greater  number  have  adhered,  desiring  that  all 
which  has  been  done  in  respect  to  the  clergy  and  nobility 
may  be  rescinded  ;  that  conciliatory  commissioners  are 
named  (three)  to  go  thither.  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux 
who  tells  me  that  she  is  informed  by  a  person  lately  come 
from  French  Flanders  that  a  general  apprehension  is  there 
entertained  of  a  visit  from  the  imperial  troops.  I  do  not 
believe  in  this  visit. 

"Leave  her  and  go  to  the  Louvre.  I  find  Madame  de 
Flahaut  in  conversation  with  a  deputy  from  the  Islands, 
who  wishes  a  particular  person  nominated  to  the  Depart- 

*  Unfortunately  Morris  does  not  give  this  conversation  or  his  authority. 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  375 

ment  of  the  Colonies,  and  that,  in  the  demarcation  of  lim 
its  with  Spain,  a  tract  should  be  ceded  in  St.  Domingo,  for 
a  part  of  which  a  plantation  will  be  given  of  which  she 
shall  have  one-half.  I  sup  here.  She  is  very  sad,  and  it 
is  in  vain  that  I  try  to  remove  that  sadness.  But  her  pros 
pects  are  very  bad." 

"  La  Caze  repeats  again  to-day  [January  23d]  that  Jef 
ferson  has  made  Robert  Morris  a  promise  on  my  subject 
which  is  impossible.  He  tells  me  that  he  learned  from 
Colonel  Smith  the  only  objection  to  placing  me  in  this 
Corps  Diplomatique  would  be  my  other  pursuits.  At 
half-past  three  I  call  on  Madame  de  Flahaut.  The  Bishop 
of  Autun  is  with  her.  Take  a  note  of  the  person  that  the 
Colonists  want  for  their  Minister,  and  then  go  to  dine  with 
M.  Montmorin.  Meet  Ternant.  Montesquiou  comes  in 
after  dinner,  and  says  he  wishes  to  see  me.  Ternant  and  I 
come  away  together.  In  the  carriage  he  tells  me  that,  on 
entering  the  court  at  Montmorin's,  he  took  occasion  to  ob 
serve,  on  seeing  my  carriage,  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
I  were  appointed  the  Minister  from  the  United  States  ;  to 
which  Montmorin  replied  that  he  should  like  it  much. 
Ternant  then  told  him  it  would  be  very  easy  to  get  it  done, 
since  nothing  more  would  be  necessary  than  to  signify  a  de 
sire  of  the  kind  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  Montmorin  then  said  there 
was  another  person  who  desired  it,  namely,  Carmichael. 
He  asked  if  it  was  he  or  his  friends  who  desired  it,  but  be 
fore  any  decisive  answer  could  be  obtained  they  entered 
the  salon.  Afterwards  go  to  take  tea  with  Madame  de 
Chastellux,  and  sup  with  the  Princess.  A  very  fine  day, 
but  drizzly  evening.  The  news  of  Strasbourg,  Montmorin 
told  me,  is  unfounded." 

"  This  morning  [January  25th]  Ternant  comes  in.  He 
tells  me  that  the  appointment  of  a  Minister  for  the  Colonies 
will  experience  considerable  delay.  He  wishes  me  to  con- 


376  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

fer  with  the  Committee  of  Commerce.  I  promise  to  do  so, 
if  they  desire  it.  He  wishes  me  to  tell  Montmorin  the  sum 
which  I  conceive  to  be  needful  for  a  French  minister  in 
America,  which  I  will  do  when  he  tells  me  the  appointment 
is  really  made.  At  three  o'clock  go  to  dine  with  Madame 
de  Stael,  who  is  not  yet  come  in.  Meanwhile  I  visit  at  the 
Louvre,  where  they  are  at  dinner.  Madame  de  Flahaut  is 
ill,  and  goes  to  bed.  Return  to  dinner.  The  Abbe  Sieyes 
is  here,  and  descants  with  much  self-sufficiency  on  govern 
ment,  despising  all  that  has  been  said  or  sung  on  that  sub 
ject  before  him,  and  Madame  says  that  his  writings  and 
opinions  will  form  in  politics  a  new  era,  as  that  of  Newton 
in  physics.  Go  from  hence  to  Madame  du  Bourg's.  She 
advises  me  to  pursue  rather  the  attractions  of  society  than 
any  serious  attachment.  Company  come  in,  which  puts 
an  end  to  that  matter." 

"  This  morning  [January  26th]  1  am  prevented  from  do 
ing  anything  almost.  First,  M.  de  Flahaut  presents  to  me 
by  appointment  his  friend,  who  is  a  chief  of  the  works  of 
Amboise.  He  wants  vent  for  hardware  in  the  United 
States.  Then  Colonel  Walker  comes  to  communicate  the 
perplexed  state  of  the  affairs  of  the  Scioto  Civilization 
Company.  He  asks  my  advice,  but  I  can  give  no  advice, 
not  knowing  sufficiently  all  the  facts  ;  some  of  the  most 
important  he  remains  ignorant  of.  Before  he  is  gone 
Colonel  Swan  arrives,  and  tells  me  that  his  plan  for  the 
debt  has  fallen  through  by  the  misconduct  of  Cantaleu.4 
He  wishes  me  to  visit  Montesquiou.  I  tell  him  that  if 
Montesquiou  wishes  to  see  me  he  can  call  on  me.  Dine 
with  Lafayette,  who  is  tolerably  well  content  to  see  me. 
Ternant  is  here  ;  he  thinks  a  few  weeks  will  drive  things 
to  a  decision.  I  think  not.  After  dinner  we  have  an  inter 
esting  conversation  together.  He  tells  me  that  he  had  ar 
ranged  a  plan  for  restoring  order  by  the  exertion  of  force, 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  377 

in  which  De  Bouillie  and  Lafayette  were  to  co-operate, 
but  the  latter  failed  while  he  was  in  Germany.  He  is  now 
at  work  to  bring  about  the  same  thing.  I  see  that  he  is 
desirous  of  being  in  the  ministry  here,  and  would  play  at 
heads  for  kingdoms.  They  want  some  person  of  this  sort, 
of  a  rank  sufficiently  elevated  to  run  no  risk  unnecessarily, 
and  whose  temper  will  not  avoid  any  which  may  be  neces 
sary  or  proper.  The  Bishop  happening  to  be  at  the  Louvre 
to-day,  I  ask  him  what  kind  of  place  he  has  got,  what  is 
the  income,  whether  it  will  support  him,  etc.,  and  observe 
that  unless  it  will  place  him  in  an  independent  situation 
he  has  done  wrong  in  accepting.  He  says  that  it  is  the 
only  door  which  was  open." 

"Dine  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  to-day  [January 
2yth],  and  go  thence  to  the  Louvre.  Madame  de  Flahaut 
has  her  sister  with  her,  who  is  arrived  in  great  penury  at 
Paris,  and  to  whom  she  has  sent  money,  notwithstanding 
the  misery  of  her  own  situation.  Leave  them,  and  visit 
Madame  de  Stael.  Return  early,  after  drinking  much 
weak  tea." 

"  This  morning  [January  2pth]  write,  and  at  noon  take 
up  Madame  de  Chastellux.  We  go  together  to  Choisy, 
and  dine  with  Marmontel.  He  thinks  soundly.  After 
dinner  he  mentions  his  mode  of  contesting  the  new-fan 
gled  doctrines  of  the  droits  de  Vhomme  by  asking  a  definition 
of  the  word  draft,  and  from  that  definition  he  draws  a  con 
clusion  against  the  asserted  equality  of  rights.  He  admits, 
however,  that  all  are  equal  before  the  law  and  under  the 
law.  I  deny  this  position,  and  make  him  remark  that, 
where  there  is  great  inequality  of  rank  and  fortune,  this 
supposed  equality  of  legal  dispensation  would  destroy  all 
proportion  and  all  justice.  If  the  punishment  be  a  fine, 
it  oppresses  the  poor  but  does  not  affect  the  rich.  If  it  be 
corporal  punishment,  it  degrades  the  prince  but  does  not 


378  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

wound  the  beggar.  He  is  struck  with  deep  conviction  at 
this  observation.  I  draw  only  one  conclusion,  that  in 
morals  every  general  position  requires  numerous  excep 
tions,  wherefore  logical  conclusions  from  such  positions 
must  frequently  be  erroneous.  I  might  have  pursued  (as 
I  have  sometimes  done)  my  remark  a  little  farther,  to  the 
legal  compensation  of  injuries  where  the  varieties  are 
greater,  because  the  party  committing  and  the  party  suf 
fering  wrong  may  each  be  of  different  rank  in  society.  I 
might  go  farther  and  notice  those  different  varieties  of 
sentiment  which  the  manners  of  different  nations  intro 
duce  into  social  life,  for  it  is  a  fact  that  the  *  ill  we  feel  is 
most  in  apprehension.'  The  legislator,  therefore,  who 
would  pare  down  the  feelings  of  mankind  to  the  metaphys 
ical  standard  of  his  own  reason,  would  show  little  knowl 
edge  though  he  might  display  much  genius.  We  return 
to  the  Palais  Royal,  where  I  set  down  Madame  de  Chas- 
tellux.  Go  to  the  Louvre.  Madame  de  Flahaut  is  alone 
and  in  sorrow.  Complains  of.  the  cold  insensibility  of 
her  husband's  relations.  He  is  ill,  very  ill.  The  Baron 
de  Montesquiou  comes  in,  and  asks  if  her  dower  is  secured. 
It  is  not.  M.  d'Angiviliers  has  paid  his  brother's  debts  ; 
quaere,  whether  he  will  pay  this  as  a  debt privile'gid" 

"  To-day  [February  ist]  I  hear  that  M.  de  Rouilliere  is 
dead  suddenly,  and  as  he  was  writing  the  history  of  the 
times,  and  was  not  friendly  to  the  powers  which  are,  their 
adversaries  say  that  he  was  poisoned. 

"Paul  Jones  calls  on  me,  and  wishes  to  have  my  senti 
ments  on  a  plan  for  carrying  on  war  against  Britain  in  In 
dia,  should  she  commence  hostilities  against  Russia.  At 
half-past  three  go  to  dine  with  De  la  Rochefoucault,  and 
later  visit  Madame  de  Segur,  and  sit  for  some  time.  She 
is  just  returned  from  attending  on  her  princess  at  Belle- 
vue.  The  two  old  ladies,  Mesdames  Adelaide  and  Victoire, 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  379 

are  about  to  start  for  Rome.  Ternant  came  this  morning 
and  desired  me  to  go  to  Lafayette  this  evening,  and  thence 
to  the  Committee  of  Commerce.  He  said  that  he  should 
have  caused  the  committee  to  write  me  a  note,  but  that 
Lafayette,  who  chooses  to  seem  (the  omnis  homo)  to  do 
everything,  preferred  taking"  me  along  with  him.  After 
dining  I  go  to  Lafayette's.  Converse  some  time  with  Ter 
nant,  and  when  Lafayette  comes  up  I  tell  him  that  I  can 
not  go  to  the  committee  but  at  their  request  ;  that  what  I 
say  will  have  less  weight  ;  that  I  think  it  better  for  him  to 
go  this  evening  with  Swan,  and  then,  if  the  committee  sig 
nify  a  desire  to  see  me,  I  will  wait  on  them  to-morrow  even 
ing  ;  that  in  the  meantime  he  can  signify  to  me  what  he 
wishes  should  be  done.  He  agrees  to  the  propriety  of  all 
this  in  words,  but  I  can  see  that  he  is  devilishly  vexed. 
Be  it  so.  Better  he  be  vexed  than  carry  me  about  in  his 
pocket." 

"This  morning  [February  3d]  Ternant  calls  and  tells 
me  of  what  passed  last  e.vening.  He  says  that  Lafayette 
agreed  to  the  free  culture  of  tobacco  ;  that  it  is  an  affair 
of  party  entirely.  He  says  that  he  proposed  inviting  me 
to  the  committee,  but  that  M.  Raymond  objected,  as  I 
was  interested.  Colonel  Swan  told  me  this  morning,  apro 
pos  of  the  tobacco  question,  that  there  is  a  knot  of  men  in 
the  Assembly  who  dispose  of  all  things  as  they  list,  and 
who  turn  everything  to  account.  He  speaks  of  their  cor 
ruption  with  horror.  I  dress  and  go  to  M.  Mory's  to  din 
ner.  There  has  been,  it  seems,  a  mistake,  and  instead  of 
finding  Chaumont  I  meet  two  kept  mistresses.  Chau- 
mont  and  his  wife  come  in  presently  after.  It  is  ridicu 
lous  enough.  However,  she  goes  home.  We  stay,  and 
dine  late.  M.  de  Flahaut,  I  hear,  is  getting  better.  His 
malady  arises  from  his  misconduct  in  pecuniary  affairs.  He 
is  a  wretch,  and  the  best  thing  he  could  do  would  be  to  die." 


380  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

"  I  dine  with  M.  de  Montmorin  to-day  [February  4th]. 
We  have  a  numerous  collection  at  dinner.  Madame  de 
Montmorin  shows  me  an  almanac  from  England,  sent  her 
by  the  Duke  of  Dorset,  in  which,  among  other  things,  is  a 
table  of  weights  and  measures.  She  says  that  it  is  one 
among  many  things  which  will  be  useless  to  her.  I  write 
in  a  blank  leaf  opposite  to  it : 

A  table  here,  of  weight  and  measure, 
In  times  like  these  it  is  a  treasure  ; 
For  each  one  measures  now  the  state, 
And  what  his  reasons  want  in  weight, 
He  makes  up,  as  a  thing  of  course, 
By  the  abundance  of  discourse." 

"This  abundance  of  discourse"  never  ceased  to  amaze 
Morris,  so  often  was  the  mountain  delivered  of  the 
mouse.  This  day  finished  with  a  musical  party  at  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux's,  and  an  hour  spent  at  Madame  de 
StaeTs.  "  Some  advances  are  made  to  me  by  Madame. 
We  shall  see."  More  music  at  the  Palais  Royal,  and  a 
call  at  the  Louvre,  ''where  Madame  de  Nadaillac  sups,  to 
see  me  ;  she  is  an  aristocrat  outrfo,  and  has  heard  that  I 
am  of  her  sect.  She  is  mistaken.  She  is  handsome,  and 
has  a  good  deal  of  esprit.  Her  aunt,  Madame  de  Flahaut, 
tells  me  she  is  virtuous  and  coquette  and  romantic.  Nous 
verrons.  Madame  de  Nadaillac  assures  me  that  there  are 
many  virtuous  and  religious  young  women  in  Paris.  She 
says  she  will  give  me  a  supper  with  the  Abbe  Maury." 

"The  Assembly  have  abolished  the  farm,  etc.,  of  to 
bacco,  permitted  the  culture,  and  laid  on  a  large  duty.* 

*  Louis  Blanc,  in  his  history  of  the  French  Revolution,  gives  a  startling 
description  of  the  effect  of  farming  the  revenue  which  prevailed  in  France 
until  this  year  of  1791.  Of  eight  principal  branches  of  the  revenue  five  were 
farmed.  The  salt  tax,  the  subsidy,  the  land,  and  the  tobacco  were  all  indi 
rect  contributions.  The  history  of  the  farmers-general  was  the  martyrizing  of 
the  tax-payers  ;  for  the  tax-gatherers  France  was  a  conquered  country.  They 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  381 

Dine  [February  i3th]  with  M.  de  Lafayette,  and  speak  to 
him  about  the  enormous  duty  on  tobacco  brought  in  Ameri 
can  vessels.  He  wishes  me  to  give  him  a  note  about  it.  I 
tell  him  that  I  do  not  choose  to  meddle  with  matters  out 
of  my  line.  He  says  that  Mirabeau  has  promised  him  to 
speak  about  it,  and  he  expects  that  both  the  tobacco  and 
the  oil  will  be  taken  up  by  the  Diplomatic  Committee.  I 
ask  him  whether  it  would  not  answer  for  the  King  to  sus 
pend  that  decree,  and  give  his  reasons.  He  says  that  he 
would  rather  the  Americans  should  be  obliged  to  the  na 
tion  than  to  the  prince.  I  tell  him  that  I  learn  from  some 
persons  well  informed  that  if  he  had  spoken  the  question 
would  have  been  differently  decided.  He  says  that,  on  the 
contrary,  it  was  so  carried  to  spite  him,  and  that  the  aris 
tocrats  in  particular  opposed  it  merely  on  that  ground. 
Madame  de  Segur,  whom  I  meet,  confirms  to  me  that  the 
aristocrats  lost  the  tobacco  question.  I  think  an  addi 
tional  reason  for  their  vote  is  a  hatred  to  America  for 
having  been  the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  M.  de  Mont- 
morin  assures  me  that  he  is  doing  everything  in  his  power 
relating  to  the  tobacco  decrees,  and  I  ask  him  if  I  shall 
write  him  a  letter  on  the  subject.  He  expresses  a  strong 
wish  that  I  would,  and  pressed  me  earnestly  to  do  so  the 
next  day,  as  he  was  then  to  meet  the  Diplomatic  Commit 
tee." 

Morris   was   extremely   anxious    to   keep    himself   out 
1  of  sight,  "  not  wishing  to  be  quoted  in  any  of  the  delibera 
tions  of  the  committee,"  and  therefore,  he  says,  speaking 
of  the  note  afterwards  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  "  I  stated 

bled  the  people,  and  they  had  prisons  and  galleys  ready  to  punish  them. 
Adam  Smith,  in  his  Wealth  of  Nations,  suggested  "  that  by  subjecting  all 
those  taxes  to  an  administration  under  the  immediate  inspection  and  direc 
tion  of  government,  the  exorbitant  profits  of  the  farmers-general  might  be 
added  to  the  revenue."  "  The  most  dreadful  laws,"  he  said,  "exist  in  a 
country  where  the  revenue  is  farmed." 


382  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

the  observations  as  being  made  by  American  citizens.  I 
am  endeavoring,  if  possible,  to  obtain  a  duty  on  the  cult 
ure  equivalent  to  the  import  duty.  There  is  little  hope 
of  success  to  any  proposition  for  alleviating,  much  less  re 
moving,  the  burdens  they  have  laid  upon  us.  The  greater 
part  have  adopted  systematic  reasoning  in  matters  of  com 
merce  as  in  those  of  government,  so  that,  disdaining  atten 
tion  to  facts,  and  deaf  to  the  voice  of  experience,  while 
others  deliberate,  they  decide,  and  are  more  constant  in 
their  opinions  in  proportion  as  they  are  less  acquainted 
with  the  subject,  which  is  natural  enough." 

In  a  private  letter  to  Washington,  written  about  this 
time,  Morris  says  of  the  late  decrees,  that  the  "  laying 
a  heavy  duty  on  oil,  and  giving  a  great  preference  of  duty 
on  tobacco  imported  in  Frencli  ships,  and  declaring  that 
none  but  those  built  in  France  shall  be  reputed  French 
bottoms,  will  excite  much  ill-humor  in  America.  Those 
who  rule  the  roast  here  seem  to  think  that  because  the  old 
government  was  sometimes  wrong,  everything  contrary  to 
what  they  did  must  be  right.  Like  Jack  in  the  'Tale  of  a 
Tub,'  who  tore  his  coat  to  pieces  in  pulling  off  the  fringe 
and  trimmings  that  Peter  had  put  on,  or  like  the  old  Con 
gress  in  its  young  days,  which  rejected  the  offer  of  valuable 
contracts  and  employed  a  host  of  commissaries  and  quarter 
masters  because  Great  Britain  dealt  with  contractors — but, 
really,  in  the  present  effervescence  very  few  acts  of  the 
Assembly  can  be  considered  as  deliberate  movements  of 
national  will.  There  still  continue  to  be  three  parties 
here.  The  enrag/s,  long  since  known  by  the  name  of  Jaco 
bins,  have  lost  much  in  the  public  opinion,  so  that  they 
are  less  powerful  in  the  Assembly  than  they  were  ;  but 
their  Committees  of  Correspondence  (called  Society's  Pa- 
triotiques),  spread  all  over  the  kingdom,  have  given  them 
a  deep  and  strong  hold  over  the  people.  On  the  other 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  383 

hand  the  numerous  reforms,  some  of  them  unnecessary, 
and  all  either  harsh,  precipitate,  or  extreme,  have  thrown 
into  the  aristocratic  party  a  great  number  of  discontented. 

"  The  military,  who  as  such  look  up  to  the  sovereign, 
are  somewhat  less  factious  than  they  were,  but  they  are 
rather  a  mob  than  an  army,  and  must,  I  think,  fall  either 
to  the  aristocratic  or  Jacobin  side  of  the  question.  The 
middlemen  are  in  a  whimsical  situation.  In  the  Senate 
they  follow  the  Jacobin  counsels  rather  than  appear  con 
nected  with  the  other  party.  The  same  principle  of 
shamefacedness  operates  on  great  occasions  out-of-doors, 
but  as  the  aristocrats  have  been  forced  down  by  a  torrent 
of  opinion  from  the  heights  of  their  absurd  pretensions, 
and  as  the  middlemen  begin  to  be  alarmed  at  the  extrem 
ities  to  which  they  have  been  hurried,  those  two  parties 
might  come  together  if  it  were  not  for  personal  animos 
ities  among  the  leaders. 

"  This  middle  party  would  be  the  strongest  if  the  nation 
were  virtuous,  but,  alas!  this  is  not  the  case,  and  therefore 
I  think  it  will  only  serve  as  a  stepping-stone  for  those  who 
may  find  it  convenient  to  change  sides.  In  the  midst, 
however,  of  all  these  confusions,  what  with  confiscating 
the  church  property,  selling  the  domains,  curtailing  pen 
sions,  and  destroying  offices,  but  especially  by  that  great 
liquidator  of  public  debt,  a  paper  currency,  this  nation  is 
working  its  way  to  a  new  state  of  active  energy  which 
will,  I  think,  be  displayed  as  soon  as  a  vigorous  govern 
ment  shall  establish  itself.  The  intervening  confusion 
will  probably  call  forth  men  of  talent  to  form  such  gov 
ernment  and  to  exert  its  powers." 

About  a  week  later  Morris  dined  with  Montmorin,  when 
they  discussed  the  decrees.  "  He  tells  me  that  he  is  well 
pleased  with  my  reflections,  but  he  does  not  expect  to  do 
anything  in  the  tobacco  affair,  the  Assembly  are  so  violent 


384  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII 

and  so  ignorant.  I  mention  to  Mr.  Duport,  who  is  here, 
my  plan,  to  which  he  gives  but  little  heed,  for  the  same 
reason  which  M.  de  Montmorin  assigns.  This  last  tells 
me  that  a  M.  Pinchon,  who  it  was  said  killed  himself  in 
July,  1789,  was  murdered  ;  that  it  was  shortly  after  he  had 
deposited  his  portefeuille  with  the  Due  d'Orleans,  which 
he  had  been  persuaded  to  do  on  account  of  the  troubles  ; 
that  the  Due  de  Penthievre  had  been  first  proposed  as  his 
depositaire,  but  this  meeting  with  difficulty,  his  son-in-law 
was  fixed  upon  ;  that  the  unhappy  man  was  brought  home, 
and  declared  that  he  was  murdered.  He  lived  to  sign  sev 
eral  papers.  There  was  found  in  his  house  two  millions, 
and  his  estate  is  bankrupt  for  fifty  millions.  M.  Duport 
mentions  that  from  a  state  of  the  Due  d'Orleans'  affairs, 
published  by  his  chancellor,  it  appears  that  he  is  in  arrears 
about  fifty  millions  more.  Time  will  unravel  these  things, 
if  the  suspicions  be  founded." 

"  I  dine  to-day  [February  22d]  with  Madame  de  Foucault, 
and  meet  there  by  appointment  the  Abbe  Ronchon.  Ma 
dame  is  kindly  attentive.  I  bring  the  Abbe  away  with  me, 
and  he  tells  me  that  in  the  memorable  affair  of  Versailles, 
as  it  was  known  that  the  King  was  that  day  to  hunt  in  the 
forest  of  Meudon,  a  party  of  the  populace,  in  number 
about  a  thousand,  went  thither,  and  among  them  were 
some  assassins  whose  object  was  to  kill  him,  and  that  a 
reward  of  a  thousand  guineas  was  to  be  given  to  the  wretch 
who  should  perform  that  deed.  He  says  that  the  Comte 
de  St.  Priest,  being  informed  of  this,  sent  to  urge  His  Maj 
esty  to  come  immediately  on  important  business  to  Ver 
sailles  ;  that  this  message  made  the  violent  party  so  much 
his  enemies  as  they  afterwards  appeared  to  be.  The  Abbe 
believes  all  this,  which  I  must  acknowledge  that  I  do  not. 
I  think  there  is  enough  of  little  villainy  about  them,  but  I 
question  whether  there  be  bold  criminality." 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  385 

"The  Marquis  de  Favernay  tells  me  [February  23d] 
that  there  is  the  devil  to  pay  in  Languedoc.  A  kind  of 
religious  war  is  there  kindling  between  the  Catholics  and 
Protestants.  He  says  that  the  latter,  who  are  rich,  have 
purchased  over  the  national  troops,  and  turned  their 
swords  against  the  Catholics,  under  pretence  of  supporting 
the  new  Constitution.  I  suppose  others  give  a  different 
account  of  the  affair,  but  it  seems  pretty  clear  at  Nimes 
and  Uses  they  are  actually  come  to  blows.  I  go  at  nine 
to  the  Louvre  to  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  to  sup  with 
Madame  de  Nadaillac.  According  to  custom,  she  is  not 
ready.  We  do  not  arrive  till  ten.  Our  hostess  is  very 
pleasant.  Insists  that  I  shall  be  an  aristocrat,  whether  I 
will  or  no.  She  gives  me  assurances  of  her  religion 
and  morality,  etc.,  but  she  is  a  coquette,  and  she  is  enthu 
siastic  and  romantic." 

"  Go  to  the  Louvre  [February  24th]  ;  see  Madame  de 
Flahaut.  She  is  ill  in  bed ;  play  sixpenny  whist  with  her. 
The  Bishop  of  Autun  is  horribly  frightened  for  his  life. 
When  she  got  home  last  night  she  found  in  a  blank  en 
velope  a  will  of  her  Bishop  making  her  his  heir.  In  conse 
quence  of  some  things  he  had  dropped  in  conversation,  she 
concluded  that  he  was  determined  to  destroy  himself,  and 
therefore  spent  the  night  in  great  agitation  and  in  tears. 
M.  de  St.  Foi,  whom  she  roused  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  could  not  find  the  Bishop,  he  having  slept  near 
the  church  in  which  he  was  this  day  to  consecrate  two 
bishops  lately  elected.  At  length  it  turns  out  that,  pursu 
ant  to  repeated  threats,  he  feared  that  the  clergy  would 
cause  him  to  be  this  day  destroyed,  and  had  ordered  the 
letter  not  to  be  delivered  till  the  evening,  meaning  to  take 
it  back  if  he  lived  through  the  day." 

"  I  learn  [February  27th]  that  Paris  is  in  great  tumult,  of 
which  I  had  indeed  observed  some  symptoms  this  morning. 
25 


386  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [€HAP.  XVII. 

Go  to  the  Louvre  ;  the  Bishop  is  here.  I  return  home, 
and  find  the  Place  du  Carrousel  full  of  soldiers.  See  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux  who  tells  me  that  the  Princess  is  much 
alarmed  at  what  is  passing  in  Paris.  There  is  a  deal  of  riot 
conjured  up,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  sufficient  object,  so 
that  it  must  waste  itself." 

During  the  early  weeks  of  1791  rumor  was  fulfilling  her 
agitating  mission,  ably  assisted  by  Camille  Desmoulins, 
who  faithfully  kept  alive  the  fear  that  the  continued  emi 
gration  of  aristocrats  meant  a  counter-revolutionary  plot, 
the  end  of  which  would  be  a  general  massacre.  The  roads 
were  guarded  to  prevent  the  queen  from  escaping,  as  the 
people  were  led  to  believe  she  intended  doing,  dressed  as 
a  jockey.  The  king  had  been  supplicated  by  a  deputation 
from  the  sections  of  Paris  to  prevent  the  journey  of  mes- 
dames*  his  aunts  to  Rome.  But  his  majesty  had  only 
made  answer  that  in  his  opinion  the  ladies  had  as  much 
right  to  go  as  any  other  citizen.  Deeply  incensed  by 
this  answer,  Camille  Desmoulins  wrote  that  they  had  no 
right  to  go  off  with  their  pensions,  or,  as  he  expressed  it, 
to  eat  French  millions  on  Roman  soil.  But  on  the  i9th 
the  old  ladies  quietly  slipped  off — leaving  the  Assembly 
rather  startled,  and  extreme  emotion  and  excitement 
among  the  people,  who  were  fully  persuaded  that  the  en 
tire  royal  family  meant  to  follow  suit.  Of  the  departure 
of  these  ladies,  Madame  Campan  speaks  as  follows:  "I 
know  from  the  queen  that  the  departure  of  mesdames 
was  judged  necessary  in  order  to  leave  the  king's  action 
free  from  the  constraint  put  upon  him  by  the  family." 
La  Chimique  de  Paris,  a  journal  under  the  influence  of 
the  constitutional  party,  expressed  great  surprise,  in  a 
sarcastic  article,  that  two  sedentary  old  ladies  should 
be  suddenly  possessed  with  a  desire  to  run  over  the 
world.  "  C'est  singulier,  mais  c'est  possible.  Elles  vont, 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  387 

dit-on,  baiser  la  mule  du  pape — c'est  drole,  mais  c'est 
edifiant." 

"  The  Comte  de  Provence,  quietly  dining  with  Madame 
de  Balbi,  found  himself  suddenly  surrounded  by  the 
fetnmes  de  la  Halle  and  an  immense  crowd  of  people  of 
all  professions,  who,  in  a  fever  of  excitement,  demanded  to 
know  if  he  meant  to  quit  the  King's  person,  or,  if  the  King 
went,  should  he  go  too  ?  To  which  last  question  he  re 
plied  in  such  a  way  as  to  silence  and  disperse,  for  a  time 
at  least,  even  this  mob.  'Osez-vous,'  he  said,  Me  prevoir?'" 

The  riot  which  Morris  particularly  mentions  was  in 
consequence  of  some  false  news  spread  through  the 
town  that  arms  and  ammunition  had  been  transported  to 
the  donjon  of  Vincennes,  and  that  there  existed  in  the 
Tuileries  a  secret  passage  through  which  the  royal  family 
intended  to  make  their  escape.  Lafayette,  at  tire  head  of 
the  National  Guard,  saved  the  fortress  of  Vincennes  from 
being  demolished,  and  forced  the  assailants  to  retreat — 
which  they  did,  and  tumultuously  rushed  into  Paris,  with 
the  formidable  brewer  Santerre  in  the  midst  of  them. 
Morris  speaks  of  going  to  the  court  of  the  Tuileries 
immediately  after  these  riots,  but  "  not  being  permitted  to 
walk  in  the  gardens  ;  try  the  quay,  but  the  mud  is  impas 
sable  ;  go  home  and  dress,  and  then  go  to  Madame  de  Fou- 
cault's  to  dine.  After  dinner  visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac. 
She  and  her  husband  are  tete-a-tete.  We  talk  religion 
and  morality.  Monsieur  observes,  with  much  vehemence, 
that  the  man  who,  under  pretext  of  the  former,  induces  a 
woman  to  violate  the  latter's  laws  is  worse  than  an  atheist. 
Madame  tries  to  mitigate  a  little  this  denunciation.  Now 
as  Monsieur  is  of  cold  temper  and  temperament,  and  Ma 
dame  very  enthusiastic,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  in  this 
a  remote  relation  to  the  Abbe  Maury,  who  is  much  con 
sidered  by  Madame.  He  is  a  mauvais  siijet^  and  she  is  very 


388  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVII. 

religious  and  duteous,  etc.  I  part  with  her  upon  a  pretty 
good  ton,  and  Monsieur  is  also  content.  Return  home,  and, 
according  to  appointment,  Mr.  Swan  and  M.  Bremond  call 
on  me.  The  affair  of  the  tobacco  is  adjusted  with  the 
controller  so  that  we  are  to  have  a  decided  preference. 
The  government  are  to  furnish  a  million  and  a  half,  and 
the  interested  on  this  side  of  the  water  are  to  make  it  up 
four  millions,  the  business  to  be  carried  on  on  equal  and 
joint  account." 

"  To-day  [March  2d]  I  dine  with  Lafayette.  I  communi 
cate  to  him  some  facts  respecting  American  affairs,  and, 
as  he  is  desirous  of  taking  them  all  up  together,  I  tell  him 
that  he  had  better,  in  such  case,  get  a  resolution  or  decree 
empowering  the  administration  to  act,  for  that  otherwise 
he  will  have  so  many  interests  opposed  to  his  plan  that  it 
must  certainly  fail.  I  think  he  will  not  follow  this  advice, 
because  he  wants  to  appear  the  Atlas  which  supports  the 
two  worlds.  I  ask  him  to  tell  me  what  passed  the  other 
day  at  the  Chateau.  He  acknowledges  that  the  Garde 
Nationale  was  drunk,  and  himself  so  angry  as  to  have  be 
haved  indecorously  to  the  gentlemen  there  ;  but  he  says,  at 
the  same  time,  that  M.  de  Villequiere  was  much  in  fault, 
who,  notwithstanding  he  had  given  his  word  of  honor  not 
to  suffer  any  persons  to  come  into  the  King's  chamber 
except  his  usual  attendants,  had  suffered  a  crowd  to  get 
thither,  many  of  them  of  the  worst  kind  of  people.  Hav 
ing  heard  his  story,  I  tell  him  (which  is  very  true)  that  I 
am  sorry  for  it,  but  as  the  thing  is  done  he  must  now  bear 
it  out  with  a  high  hand,  and  turn  M.  de  Villequiere  out  of 
office,  assigning  publicly  as  a  reason  that  he  permitted 
certain  persons  (to  be  named)  to  come  into  the  King's 
chamber  on  such  an  occasion,  contrary  to  the  promise 
made  on  his  honor.  He  finds  this  advice  very  good.  He 
must  be  preserved  yet." 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  389 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

The  queen  intriguing  with  Mirabeau.  Morris's  impressions  of  the  Abbe 
Maury.  Madame  de  Nadaillac's  salon.  Madame  de  Tesse  converted 
to  Morris's  political  principles.  Vicq  d'Azyr's  eulogy  of  Franklin. 
Morris  takes  supper  with  Condorcet.  Paris  illuminated.  First  in 
troduction  to  Lady  Sutherland.  Conversation  with  the  Abbe  Maury. 
Death  of  Mirabeau.  Discusses  with  Montmorin  Mirabeau's  succes 
sor.  Mirabeau'  s  impressive  funeral.  Strictures  on  his  character. 
Robespierre  comes  to  the  front.  Morris  predicts  to  M.  de  Mont 
morin  the  speedy  dissolution  of  the  present  Assembly.  A  visit  from 
Paine.  Madame  de  Nadaillac  talks  of  religion  and  duty.  Madame 
de  Flahaut  asks  advice  as  to  marriage.  Morris  prepares  a  note  for 
the  king  on  the  rations  for  the  French  marine.  Madame  de  Stael 
reads  her  tragedy  "  Montmorenci."  Morris  gives  her  some  advice. 
Brilliant  society  in  her  salon. 

U  ALK  about  the  Champs  Elysees  to-day  [March 


T  T  7 
V  V 


]  with  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  Mademoiselle 
Duplessis.  Propose  to  M.  de  Favernay,  whom  I  meet,  to  go 
to  the  restaurateur's,  but  Madame  proposes  that  we  should 
bring  our  dinner  to  her.  We  go  to  the  Hotel  des  Ameri- 
cains,  and,  having  made  our  provision,  return  and  eat  it 
there.  After  dinner  I  return  home,  read  a  little,  and 
dress.  M.  Bremond*  and  M.  de  Bergasse  come  in.  We 
have  much  conversation  on  public  affairs,  which  form  the 
object  of  their  visit.  They  tell  me  that  the  Queen  is  now 
intriguing  with  Mirabeau,  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  and  the 

*  Etienne  Bremond,  of  whom  Morris  so  often  speaks  in  his  diary,  had  been 
successively  cure  at  Chartres.  canon  of  the  cathedral,  canon  of  a  church  in 
Paris,  and  docteur  de  la  Sorbonne.  His  chagrin  at  the  imprisonment  of  the 
king  threw  him  into  a  painful  condition  of  health,  which  resulted  in  his  death 
in  January,  1795. 


39°  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

Comte  de  Mercy,  who  enjoy  her  confidence.  They  wish 
to  visit  me  again.  They  tell  me  that  Mirabeau,  whose  am 
bition  renders  him  the  mortal  enemy  of  Lafayette,  must 
succeed  in  ruining  him  by  the  instrumentality  of  his  com 
peers  in  the  department.  I  incline  to  think,  however,  that 
Lafayette  will  hold  a  good  tug,  being  as  cunning  as  any 
body.  Mirabeau  has  much  greater  talents,  and  his  oppo 
nent  a  better  character.  When  the  two  gentlemen  leave 
me,  I  go  to  Madame  de  Nadaillac's.  We  have  here  the 
Abbe  Maury,*  who  looks  like  a  downright  ecclesiastical 
scoundrel,  and  the  rest  are  fierce  aristocrats.  They  have 
the  word  '  valet '  written  on  their  foreheads  in  large  charac 
ters.  Maury  is  formed  to  govern  such  men,  and  such  men 
are  formed  to  obey  him,  or  anyone  else.  Maury  seems, 
however,  to  have  rather  too  much  vanity  for  a  great  man. 
Madame  de  Nadaillac  is  vastly  attentive,  and  insists  that  I 
must  be  un  aristocrat  outre.  I  tell  her  that  I  am  too  old  to 
change  my  opinions  of  government,  but  I  will  to  her  be 
just  what  she  pleases." 

"To-day  [March  5th]  the  Comte  de  Segur  calls  on  me. 
I  ask  him  the  character  of  the  Comte  de  la  Marck  f  and 
the  Comte  de  Mercy.  J  He  tells  me  that  the  former  is  a 
military  man  who  understands  his  business,  and  that  in 
the  affairs  of  Brabant  his  plan  was  to  raise  a  popular  party 
which,  in  case  of  the  independence  of  that  country,  should 
be  considered  as  the  French  party  ;  or,  at  any  rate,  by  sow 
ing  dissension,  facilitate  the  re-establishment  of  imperial 


*  The  Abbe  Maury  defended  with  skill  and  eloquence  the  cause  of  the  mon 
archy,  the  church,  and  the  nobles  in  the  National  Assembly.  He  became 
afterward  an  archbishop  and  a  cardinal,  and  died  in  1817,  having  witnessed 
the  Bourbon  restoration.  He  was  born  in  1746. 

t  Count  Charles  de  la  Marck  was  Minister  of  Marine  from  October,  1790,  to 
May,  1791. 

?  Count  Mercy  d'Argenteau  was  Austrian  ambassador  from  the  Court  of 
Vienna  to  Paris  in  1791.  He  advised  the  flight  of  the  royal  family. 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  391 

authority.  The  Comte  de  Mercy  is,  he  says,  one  of  the 
ablest  statesmen  in  Europe.  Visit  Madame  Dumolley, 
who  is  very  desirous  of  my  visits,  because  she  finds  I  keep 
company  that  she  cannot  reach.  Leave  her,  go  to  the 
Palais  Royal,  and  sup  with  the  Duchess.  Madame  de 
St.  Priest,  who  is  here,  wishes  to  know  my  opinion  of  what 
has  lately  passed  at  the  Louvre.  I  evade  it  handsomely, 
and  Madame  de  Chastellux  tells  me  so,  being  a  little  vexed, 
because  she  says  that  they  will  quote  against  her  what  I 
have  said,  and  which  they  will  understand  very  different 
ly  from  the  true  meaning.  I  ask  her  about  the  Comte  de 
la  Marck,  and  find  that  I  am  acquainted  with  him.  He  is 
intimately  united  with  Mirabeau,  is  devoured  by  ambition, 
and  of  profligate  morals.  Nous  voilti  done  au  fait.  M. 
d'Agout  comes  in.  He  is  just  arrived  from  Switzerland, 
and  brings  me  many  civil  sayings  from  Madame  de  Tesse, 
who  is  become  a  convert,  she  says,  to  my  principles  of 
government.  There  will  be  many  more  such  converts." 

"  This  morning  [March  7th]  I  write,  being  still  unwell. 
In  the  evening  Madame  de  Flahaut  calls  at  the  door,  and 
sends  to  know  how  I  do.  She  will  not  come  up,  although 
her  husband  and  nephew  are  with  her.  Go  to  Madame 
de  Chastellux's,  where  we  take  tea  ;  a  trio,  of  which  the 
Duchess  makes  the  third.  Visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac,  who 
has  been  ill.  We  converse  about  her  malady,  afterwards 
upon  religion,  and  she  wishes  to  know  whether  I  have  the 
virtue  of  an  American,  which  she  doubts,  because  she  is 
pleased  to  say  I  have  the  amiableness  of  a  Frenchman.  I 
leave  that  matter  a  little  doubtful,  but  she  seems  a  little 
displeased  that  her  husband  comes  in,  which  is  a  good 
sign.  Make  my  visit  neither  long  nor  short,  and  I  per 
ceive  that  both  are  content." 

"  I  go  to  the  Louvre  [March  i2th]  to  take  Madame  de 
Flahaut  to  drive  ;  but  the  Baron  de  Montesquieu  is  here, 


392  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

who  wants  to  get  into  office,  and  then  comes  the  toilette, 
and  then  Mademoiselle  Duplessis,  so  I  go  to  call  on  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux.  Swan  calls  and  tells  me  what  I  had 
hinted  to  him;  viz.,  that  Roederer's  motions  and  resolutions 
have  cut  up  the  regie  by  the  roots.  Ternant  calls,  with 
whom  I  converse  a  little  on  those  things.  Dine  with  the 
Comte  de  Montmorin,  and,  as  Montesquieu  comes  in  after 
dinner,  I  mention  those  things  to  him.  He  wishes  me  to 
have  a  memoire  drawn.  Go,  after  dinner,  to  the  Academy 
of  Physicians,  where  Vicq  d'Azyr*  pronounces  the  eulogi- 
um  of  Doctor  Franklin." 

"I  go  [March  i;th]  to  supper  to-night  at  Madame 
d'Angivilliers.  Madame  de  Condorcet  is  here.  She  is 
handsome,  and  has  un  air  spirituel.  Talk  with  Condorcet  •)• 
after  supper  on  the  principles  of  the  e'conomistes.  I  tell 

*  Felix  Vicq  d'Azyr  possessed  great  attractions  of  person  and  manner,  and 
as  a  writer,  professor,  and  orator  was  judged  a  worthy  successor  to  Buffon 
at  the  French  Academy.  He  was  the  great  promoter  of  the  Academy  of 
Medicine,  and  he  represented  a  new  phase  in  the  progress  of  social  science  ; 
Vicq  d'Azyr  was  perhaps  the  first  physician  who  practised  his  profession  in 
Paris  without  a  wig.  He  was  chosen  as  the  physician  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
and  his  short  career  embraced  all  the  time  that  was  accorded  to  the  reign 
of  Louis  XVI.,  for  he  only  survived  a  short  time  after  the  2ist  of  January, 
1793,  and  perished  a  moral  victim  to  the  terrors  of  the  Revolution.  He  was 
born  in  Normandy  in  April,  1748. 

t  The  last  of  the  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  M.  de  Condorcet, 
secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  successor  of  d'Alembert,  the  last 
correspondent  of  Voltaire,  and  the  friend  of  Turgot.  In  his  salon,  which  was 
the  centre  of  thinking  Europe,  where  distinguished  persons  from  far  and  near 
were  to  be  found,  perhaps  the  most  attractive  feature  was  Madame  Condor 
cet,  his  lively,  refined,  and  sympathetic  wife.  Always  master  of  himself,  Con 
dorcet  talked  little,  listened  to  everything,  profited  by  everything,  and  for 
got  nothing.  His  sympathy  was  far-reaching,  ready  to  embrace  everything, 
from  the  profound  questions  of  the  moment  to  the  latest  fashion  in  woman's 
dress.  In  1789  he  ardently  embraced  the  popular  cause,  and  voted  gener 
ally  with  the  Girondists,  but  not  for  the  king's  death.  He  attacked  violently 
the  Constitution  of  1793,  and  was  obliged  to  seek  safety  against  the  Revolution, 
and  for  eight  months  he  found  an  asylum  in  the  house  of  Madame  Vernet, 
where  he  wrote  his  famous  Progres  de  1'esprit  humain.  A  longing  for  fresh 
air  impelled  him  to  leave  his  house  ;  he  was  arrested,  thrown  into  prison,  and 
ended  his  life  by  poison. 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  393 

him,  which  is  true,  that  once  I  adopted  those  principles 
from  books,  but  that  I  have  since  changed  them  from  bet 
ter  knowledge  of  human  affairs  and  more  mature  reflec 
tion.  In  the  close  of  our  discussion  I  tell  him  that  if  the 
impot  direct  be  heavy,  it  will  not  be  paid.  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  was  taken  ill  to-day  while  she  and  Mademoiselle  Du- 
plessis  were  driving  with  me.  We  returned  to  the  Louvre, 
put  her  to  bed,  and  played  whist  by  her  bedside.  Vicq 
d'Azyr  comes  in,  and  we  have  a  little  conversation  respect 
ing  the  conduct  to  be  pursued  by  the  Court.  I  give  him 
some  hints  as  to  the  past  by  way  of  elucidating  the  future, 
and  he  is  equally  surprised  at  the  information  and  at  the 
force  of  my  reasons.  I  see  this  in  his  countenance." 

"  Spend  the  evening  [March  2oth]  at  the  Louvre.  Sev 
eral  persons  come  in  and  go  out.  At  length  we  divide  into 
parties  to  see  the  illumination  of  Paris  for  the  King's  re 
covery.  It  is  a  dreadful  night,  the  wind  very  high  indeed, 
from  the  westward,  with  rain.  The  illumination  was  the 
poorest,  barest  thing  imaginable.  M.  de  St.  Foi  comes 
in  between  ten  and  eleven,  and  tells  us  that  the  Pope  has 
laid  the  kingdom  under  an  interdict.  This  must  produce 
some  movement  as  soon  as  it  is  known.  The  Duchess  of 
Orleans  to-day,  when  I  dined  with  her,  is  so  kind  as  to 
reproach  me  with  absenting  myself.  After  dinner,  I  visit 
Madame  de  Nadaillac.  Her  reception  is  rather  that  of  a 
coquette  than  a  devote." 

"  I  cannot  work  in  my  apartment  to-day  [March  25th] 
"because  my  servants  want  to  clear  my  chambers  for  the 
reception  of  company.  I  therefore  go  to  see  Madame  de 
Flahaut.  The  servants  being  out  of  the  way,  I  announce 
myself.  Madame  is  tete-a-tete  with  M.  de  Ricy.  She  cries 
out,  with  suddenness  and  alarm,  '  Qui  est-ce  la  ? '  Upon 
naming  myself,  'Je  vais  vous  renvoyer  tout  de  suite;' 
I  turn  and  leave  them.  I  have  to  dine  with  me  Mes- 


394  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

dames  de  Lafayette,  Segur,  Beaumont,  and  Fersensac. 
The  Abbe  Delille  is  one  of  the  gentlemen.  I  tell  Short, 
who  is  one  of  the  guests,  that  he  has  but  little  chance  of 
being  appointed  to  this  Court ;  that  Jefferson  wishes  him 
to  return  to  America,  and  that  the  appointment  rests 
entirely  in  Washington's  bosom ;  that  it  is  to  be  made 
this  session.  I  show  him  the  memoire  and  notes  I  have 
made  about  tobacco.  Speaking  about  the  actings  and  do 
ings  of  the  Assembly  in  this  regard,  he  says  that  the  Due 
de  la  Rochefoucault  is  led  by  Roederer  and  Condorcet, 
who  are  both  rascals.  I  remind  him  that  I  had  judged  the 
latter  long  since  by  his  countenance." 

"  Visit  Madame  de  Chastellux  [March  26th].  The 
Duchess,  to  whom  I  mention  the  reason  why  I  did  not  ask 
her  to  breakfast,  expresses  a  great  inclination  to  come  some 
day  or  other.  Madame  de  Montmorin  to-day  shows  me  the 
letter  of  General  Washington*  to  the  Assembly  printed  in 
one  of  the  public  papers.  It  is  not  what  the  violent  Revo 
lutionists  would  have  wished,  and  contains  a  hint  respect 
ing  Lafayette  which  his  enemies  will  not  fail  to  notice. 
Hence  to  Madame  de  Segur's,  who  presses  me  to  stay  and 
dine,  which  I  refuse.  Dine,  as  I  had  promised,  with  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans,  to  see  her  daughter.  It  is  a  pretty 
little  princess  and  has  an  air  tres  fin.  Go  from  thence  to 
Madame  de  Foucault's.  The  conversation  is  immediately 
turned  upon  love.  In  the  course  of  it  I  observe  that  I 
have  remarked  '  deux  especes  d'hommes.  Les  uns  sont 
faits  pour  etre  peres  de  famille  et  les  autres  pour  leur 

*  On  the  27th  of  January,  1791,  Washington  wrote  to  the  President  of  the 
National  Assembly  acknowledging  the  tribute  paid  to  Franklin,  which  had 
been  sent  to  Washington  in  the  form  of  a  letter  of  condolence.  He  at  the 
same  time  desired  the  president  to  convey  to  the  National  Assembly  his  inter 
est  in  their  efforts  to  establish  in  France  a  firm  constitution  for  the  diffusion 
of  the  true  principles  of  liberty,  assimilating  as  well  as  ameliorating  the  con 
dition  of  mankind,  and  convincing  them  that  their  interest  would  best  be  pro 
moted  by  mutual  good  will  and  harmony. 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  395 

faire  des  enfants.'     She  is  delighted  with  this  observation. 
Chaumont  reads  me  a  part  of  Laforet's  letter  to  him,  giv-. 
ing  a  very  exalted  idea  of  the  situation  of  America  and 
counselling  purchases  of  land  and  stock." 

"At  Madame  de  Chastellux's  [March  28th]  there  is  a 
breakfast.  The  English  ambassador*  and  his  lady  are 
here.  If  I  might  judge  from  her  manner,  I  have  made  a 
little  progress  in  her  esteem.  We  shall  see.  This  morn 
ing  I  got  a  fall  in  the  street  which  barks  my  stump  a  little. 
Go  to  sup  with  Madame  de  Nadaillac.  Tell  the  Abbe 
Maury  that  I  expect  he  will  get  the  hat  the  Cardinal  de 
Lomenie  has  sent  back.  I  tell  him  also  that  the  Holy 
Father  has  done  wrong  in  not  laying  the  kingdom  under 
an  interdict.  He  answers  that  opinion  is  no  longer  with 
the  Saint  Siege,  and  that  without  an  army  to  support  the 
interdict  it  would  be  laughed  at ;  that  the  instance  of  Eng 
land  Ynakes  Rome  cautious.  I  reply  that  the  cases  are 
somewhat  different,  but,  further,  as  the  Assembly  have  left 
the  Pope  nothing  he  might  play  a  sure  game,  since  he  can 
lose  no  more,  and  at  any  rate  he  had  better  have  done 
nothing  than  only  one-half  of  what  he  might  do,  because 
mankind  may,  by  degrees,  be  habituated  to  everything. 
He  agrees  to  the  truth  of  this,  and  owns  that  he  should 
have  preferred  extremities.  I  tell  him  that,  from  the  mo 
ment  when  the  church  property  was  seized,  I  considered 
the  Catholic  religion  at  an  end,  because  nobody  would  be 
priest  for  nothing.  He  agrees  fully. 

"  To-night,  at  the  Theatre  de  la  Nation,  there  is  a  dread 
ful  representation  of  monastic  vengeance  and  guilt.  See 
Madame  de  Chastellux,  who  tells  me  that  the  British  am- 

*  George  Grenville,  second  marquis,  who  during  his  father's  lifetime  was 
summoned  to  Parliament  as  Baron  Gower.  His  lordship,  who  was  a  privy 
councillor  and  Knight  of  the  Garter,  was  created  Duke  of  Sutherland,  Janu 
ary  28,  1833.  He  married,  September,  1785,  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Suther 
land,  and  Baroness  of  Strathnaver  in  her  own  right. 


396  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XVIII. 

bassadress  is  much  pleased  with  me.  She  says  the  poor 
Princess  is  very  ill  at  ease." 

"I  dine  [April  ist]  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  After 
dinner  go  to  the  opera,  and  leave  it  early  to  take  Madame 
de  Flahaut  to  Madame  de  Laborde's.  In  the  way,  we  call 
to  inquire  about  Mirabeau's  health.  Guards  stop  us,  lest  the 
carriage  should  disturb  his  repose.  I  am  shocked  at  such 
honors  paid  to  such  a  wretch.  On  this  subject  I  quarrel 
with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  I  stay  at  Madame  de  Laborde's 
till  eleven,  and  then  go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs.  The  Eng 
lish  ambassadress  is  here,  and  receives  me  very  well." 

"Madame  de  Lafayette  tells  me  to-day  [April  2d]  that  I 
am  in  love  with  Madame  de  Beaumont.  I  own  it,  though 
it  is  not  true.  She  says  that  her  company  must  be  insipid, 
after  such  agreeable  people.  Que  veut.dire  cela?  Go  to 
M.  de  Montmorin's  to  dine.  After  dinner  go  to  the 
Louvre.  Mirabeau  died  this  day.  I  tell  the  Bishop 
d'Autun  that  he  should  step  into  the  vacancy  he  has 
made,  and  to  that  effect  should  pronounce  his  funeral 
oration,  in  which  he  should  make  a  summary  of  his  life, 
and  dwell  particularly  on  the  last  weeks  in  which  he 
labored  to  establish  order ;  then  dwell  on  the  necessity  of 
order,  and  introduce  properly  the  King.  He  says  his 
thoughts  have  run  much  upon  that  subject  this  day.  I 
tell  him  he  has  not  a  moment  to  lose,  and  that  such  occa 
sions  rarely  present  themselves.  I  spoke  to  the  Cotnte  de 
Montmorin  about  a  successor  to  Mirabeau  this  day,  but  he 
tells  me  that  he  cannot  easily  see  who  shall  be  put  into  his 
place.  He  owns  that  Mirabeau  was  determined  to  ruin 
Lafayette,  and  says  that  he  had  held  him  back  for  some 
time.  He  says  that  Lafayette  is  a  reed,  good  for  nothing. 
He  thinks  that  there  is  no  chance  now  left  but  to  convoke 
the  next  Assembly  as  soon  as  may  be,  excluding  the 
members  of  the  present,  and  that  the  meeting  should  be 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  397 

far  from  Paris.  The  theatres  are  shut  this  day.  The 
weather  is  fine." 

But  of  what  use  was  it,  if  Mirabeau  was  dead — so  all 
Paris  and  the  Assembly  felt,  as  they  sat  and  stared  at  the 
vacant  chair,  where  the  immense  athletic  creature,  with 
"a  vast  forehead  which  seemed  made  to  carry  the  burden 
of  thought,"  had  so  lately  sat.  During  this  day  of  mourn 
ing,  amusements  were  forbidden.  A  marquise  dared  to 
give  a  ball.  The  furious  crowd  besieged  the  house,  and 
maltreated  some  of  her  noble  guests,  who  were  obliged 
to  take  out  their  swords  to  defend  themselves.  For  eight 
days  all  the  departments  were  in  mourning,  as  for  a 
national  calamity.  The  Bishop  of  Autun  administered 
ghostly  consolation  to  the  dying  Mirabeau,  and  the  people 
mourned  him  dead.  Nothing  like  it  had  been  known  be 
fore,  not  even  when  lamentations  rent  the  air,  and  ringing 
bells  sounded  through  the  streets  with  the  cry,  "  Le  bon 
Roi  Louis,  pere  du  peuple,  est  mort." 

"  A  wonderfully  fine  day  [April  3d].  I  go  to  Marli.  Ma 
dame  du  Bourg  receives  me  with  the  joy  of  one  who 
wishes  something  from  a  city  to  vary  the  sameness  of  the 
lane.  After  dinner  we  walk  much  about  the  garden,  and 
we  see  many  scenes  of  rural  love.  The  shepherds  and 
shepherdesses  seem  to  care  but  little  for  the  appearance 
of  strangers,  but  pursue  their  gambols  as  freely  as  their 
flocks  and  herds.  This  furnishes  the  matter  of  our  con 
versation.  Return  to  town,  and  spend  the  evening  with 
the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  Madame  de  Lootange  is  here. 
There  is  a  violence  of  aristocracy  in  her,  as  in  many  oth 
ers,  which  is  diverting.  She  is  handsome." 

"  To-day  [April  4th]  I  go  along  the  boulevards  as  far  as 
the  convoi  of  Mirabeau  will  permit  ;  then  go  back  to  the 
Marais,  where  I  visit  M.  and  Madame  de  la  Luzerne. 
They  receive  me  tfautant  mieux  as  that,  being  no  longer 


398  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

minister,  my  attention  cannot  be  suspected.  Visit  Madame 
de  Nadaillac,  where  I  arn  led  into  an  altercation  un  pen 
vive  with  monsieur,  who,  among  other  ridiculous  notions  of 
aristocratic  folly,  expresses  a  wish  for  the  dismemberment 
of  France.  I  call  on  Madame  de  Chastellux  for  a  few 
minutes.  She  is  to  inform  me  to-morrow  whether  the  ex 
pedition  to  Sceaux  takes  place  the  day  after.  I  cannot 
\vait  for  her  Royal  Highness,  but  make  a  short  visit  to  the 
Louvre.  It  has  been  a  prodigious  fine  day.  The  funeral 
of  Mirabeau  (attended,  it  is  said,  by  more  than  one  hun 
dred  thousand  persons,  in  solemn  silence)  has  been  an 
imposing  spectacle.  It  is  a  vast  tribute  paid  to  superior 
talents,  but  no  great  incitement  to  virtuous  deeds.  Vices, 
both  degrading  and  detestable,  marked  this  extraordinary 
creature.  Completely  prostitute,  he  sacrificed  everything 
to  the  whim  of  the  moment.  Cupidus  alieni,  prodigus  sui ; 
venal,  shameless,  and  yet  greatly  virtuous  when  pushed 
by  a  prevailing  impulse,  but  never  truly  virtuous,  because 
never  under  the  steady  control  of  reason  nor  the  firm  au 
thority  of  principle,  I  have  seen  this  man,  in  the  short 
space  of  two  years,  hissed,  honored,  hated,  mourned. 
Enthusiasm  has  just  now  presented  him  gigantic  ;  time 
and  reflection  will  shrink  that  stature.  The  busy  idle 
ness  of  the  hour  must  find  some  other  object  to  execrate 
or  to  exalt.  Such  is  man,  and  particularly  the  French 
man." 

Marat  alone  was  violent  against  the  dead  man,  and 
called  upon  the  people  to  give  thanks  that  Riquetti  was 
no  more.  In  less  than  three  years  the  Convention  of  the 
Revolution  decreed  that,  "Le  corps  d'Honore  Gabriel  Ri 
quetti  Mirabeau  sera  retire  du  Pantheon  francais,  celtii 
de  Marat  y  sera  transfere."  In  1794,  in  the  silence  of  the 
night,  coldly  and  strictly  was  this  arretd  executed,  and  the 
man  who  had  been  so  feted  was  put,  near  the  meeting  of 


I79I-3  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  399 

many  streets,  into  a  nameless  grave,  over  which  daily  the 
hurrying  crowds  pass. 

Lafayette  told  Morris  that  he  thought  the  Bishop  of 
Autun  would  replace  Mirabeau  in  the  Diplomatic  Com 
mittee  ;  but  the  man  whom  Mirabeau  had  contemplated 
with  apprehensive  curiosity  for  so  long,  the  man  whose 
words  were  so  carefully  prepared  and  arranged  and 
whose  attitude  was  so  grave,  was  the  man  who  was  to 
take  his  place  and  go  far  beyond  him.  When  Mirabeau 
disappeared,  Robespierre  almost  immediately  came  to  the 
front. 

"  Dine  with  M.  de  Montmorin  to-day  [April  8th].  After 
dinner,  take  him  aside  and  express  my  opinion  that  a 
speedy  dissolution  of  the  present  Assembly  would  be  dan 
gerous.  Their  successors  would  be  chosen  by  the  Jaco 
bins,  whereas,  if  some  months  are  suffered  to  elapse,  the 
Jacobins  and  municipalities  will  be  at  war,  because  the 
latter  will  not  brook  the  influence  of  the  former.  He  says 
that  he  fears  the  municipalities  will  be  entirely  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Jacobins.  This  is,  I  think,  a  vain  fear. 
He  thinks  that  more  of  the  present  members  should  be  re- 
eligible.  I  differ  in  opinion,  because  he  knows  the  char 
acter  and  talents  of  the  present  set  and  can  buy  such  as, 
after  reelection,  may  suit  his  purpose.  He  says  they  are  not 
worth  buying,  and  would,  for  the  most  part,  take  money, 
to  act  as  they  please  ;  that  if  Mirabeau  had  lived,  he  would 
have  gratified  him  to  the  extent  of  his  desires.  He  says 
they  must  now  work  in  the  provinces  to  secure  the  elec 
tions  ;  but  I  ask  how  he  is  to  know  the  inclination  and 
capacity  of  members  elect.  He  owns  this  to  be  difficult. 
Speaking  of  the  Court,  he  tells  me  that  the  King  is  abso 
lutely  good  for  nothing  ;  that  at  present  he  always  asks, 
when  he  is  at  work  with  the  King,  that  the  Queen  be  pres 
ent.  I  ask  if  he  is  well  with  the  Queen.  He  says  that  he 


400  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

is,  and  has  been  for  some  months.     I  am  sincerely  glad  of 
this,  and  tell  him  so. 

11  Spend  an  hour  with  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  She 
gives  me  the  relation  of  some  new  horrors  attending  the 
Revolution.  She  has  been  this  morning  to  visit  a  sick 
bishop.  Return  home,  and  read  the  answer  of  Paine  to 
Burke's  book  ;  there  are  good  things  in  the  answer  as 
well  as  in  the  book.  Paine  calls  on  me.  He  says  that 
he  found  great  difficulty  in  prevailing  on  any  bookseller 
to  publish  his  book  ;  that  it  is  extremely  popular  in  Eng 
land,  and,  of  course,  the  writer,  which  he  considers  as  one 
among  the  many  uncommon  revolutions  of  this  age.  He 
turns  the  conversation  on  times  of  yore,  and  as  he  mentions 
me  among  those  who  were  his  enemies,  I  frankly  acknowl 
edge  that  I  urged  his  dismissal  from  the  office  he  held  of 
secretary  to  the  Committee  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

"Madame  de  Chastellux  tells  me  that  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  sets  off  to-morrow,  under  pretence  of  her  father 
being  indisposed,  to  visit  him,  but,  in  fact,  to  bring  about 
a  separation  with  her  husband,  whose  conduct  is  become 
too  brutal  to  be  borne.  Poor  woman,  she  looks  wretched  ! 
Visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac,  and  by  a  rambling  conversa 
tion  get  more  ground  than  she  is  aware  of.  She  talks  of 
religion,  duty,  and  conjugal  vows  before  there  is  any  oc 
casion,  but  to  her  surprise  I  agree  that  these  vows  should 
be  held  sacred.  Tell  her  that  it  is  a  happy  circumstance 
for  her  that  she  loves  her  husband,  because  that  otherwise 
she  could  not  but  entertain  another  passion,  which  would 
prove  at  length  too  strong." 

"This  morning  [April  pth]  M.  Bremond  calls  on  me. 
In  the  course  of  conversation  I  mention  the  claims  of  the 
German  princes  upon  France  for  supplies  furnished  a  long 
time  ago.  He  opens  this  matter  up  to  me,  and  says  that 
he  has  agreements  already  made  with  them,  and  wants 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS.  4OI 

only  about  1,200,000!  to  complete  the  affair,  which  will 
give  at  least  twelve  millions.  In  the  course  of  conversa 
tion,  he  asks  if  I  will  propose  the  matter  to  M.  de  Mont- 
morin.  I  am  to  consider  of  it,  and  he  is  to  call  to-morrow 
and  furnish  me  with  the  proper  materials  to  converse 
upon.  Mr.  Short  and  I  have  a  long  conversation  on  Ameri 
can  finance,  and  I  endeavor  to  show  him  that  the  proposi 
tion  made  in  the  name  of  Schwitzer,  Jeanneret  &  Co.  is  a 
good  one  for  the  United  States,  provided  they  abate  the 
commission.  This  is  my  sincere  belief.  I  tell  him  also 
that  from  what  the  parties  have  said  to  and  shown  to  me,  I 
am  convinced  that  they  have  great  strength  both  with  the 
Court  and  in  the  Assembly  ;  that  an  operation  of  this  sort 
would  be  so  much  the  more  useful,  as  the  United  States 
might  make  use  of  all  this  credit  to  support  their  domestic 
operations.  The  conversation  is  long,  and  he  is  a  little 
changed  in  his  opinions.  I  tell  him  some  things  which 
may  render  him  a  little  cautious  respecting  Mr.  Swan,  who 
is,  I  find,  in  the  habit  of  using  both  our  names  for  his  par 
ticular  purposes. 

"  I  take  Mademoiselle  Duplessis  to  Madame  de  Flahaut's, 
where  we  dine  at  her  bedside,  and  afterwards  visit  Madame 
de  Nadaillac.  Her  friend  the  Abbe  Maury  is  with  her, 
and  I  leave  them  together.  She  desires  to  see  me  again, 
which  I  promise.  She  is  at  Gros  Caillou,  to  attend  the  in 
oculation  of  her  children.  Madame  de  Flahaut  asks  me 
to-day  whom  I  would  recommend,  in  case  of  widowhood, 
to  be  her  husband.  I  tell  her  that  I  understand  that  it  is 
in  contemplation  to  permit  the  marriage  of  the  clergy. 
She  says  she  will  never  marry  the  Bishop,  because  she 
cannot  go  with  him  to  the  altar  without  mentioning  first 
her  connection  with  another.  Visit  Madame  Dumolley, 
who  wants  to  know  why  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  is  gone 
to  the  town  of  Eu.  I  pretend  ignorance." 
26 


402  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

"At  ten  [April  i3th]  I  call  on  M.  de  Montmorin.  En 
ter  fully  with  him  both  into  his  situation  and  that  of  the 
kingdom.  Propose  the  affair  of  the  rations,  and  offer 
him  the  interest  agreed  on.  He  declines  being  inter 
ested,  and  after  much  conversation  agrees  to  push  it  on 
account  of  the  King,  provided  the  matter  be  secret.  He 
says  he  can  rely  on  me,  and  that  His  Majesty  will,  he  be 
lieves,  have  the  like  confidence.  I  am  to  give  him  a  note 
this  day  to  be  laid  before  the  King.  Go  to  Jeanneret's 
and  inform  Bremond  of  Montmorin's  refusal,  and  at  the 
same  time  give  him  to  understand  that  the  business  will 
be  done.  Prepare  the  note  for  His  Majesty.  Go  to  dine 
with  M.  de  Montmorin,  and  after  dinner  give  him  the 
note.  He  tells  me  that  he  must  communicate  the  affair  to 
the  Comte  de  la  Marck.  Their  political  connections  are  such 
that  he  cannot  avoid  the  communication.  He  will  give 
me  a  definitive  answer  on  Monday  morning. 

"  Go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs.  Converse  here  with  the 
Duchesse  de  la  Rochefoucault.  Madame  de  Stael  reads 
her  tragedy  of  '  Montmorenci.'  She  writes  much  better 
than  she  reads.  Her  character  of  the  Cardinal  de  Riche 
lieu  is  drawn  with  much  ability.  The  society  is  small,  and 
we  have  no  small  reprehension  of  the  Assemblee  Nationale, 
who,  it  must  be  confessed,  act  weakly  enough.  N'importe. 
Call  at  the  Louvre,  where  I  find  M.  de  Curt  making  verses 
and  love  to  Madame  de  Flahaut." 

"Call  on  Madame  de  Nadaillac  [April  i5th],  whose 
children  begin  to  sicken  with  the  small-pox.  We  talk  of 
religion  and  sentiment,  but  I  am  much  mistaken  if  she 
does  not  think  of  something  else.  Leave  my  name  for 
the  British  ambassadress,  and  go  to  dine  with  Madame 
Foucault.  She  tells  me  that  her  husband  has  abandoned 
his  project  of  going  to  England,  which  she  was  delighted 
with,  and  says  that  my  description  of  it  has  deterred  him. 


I79I.J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  403 

I  must  endeavor  to  put  this  to  rights.  Her  physician,  also, 
has  agreed  to  advise  the  jaunt  as  needful  for  her  health. 
Shortly  after  dinner  I  go  to  the  Louvre.  We  are  present 
ly  interrupted  by  Vicq  d'Azyr,  with  whom  Madame  de 
Flahaut  has  a  conversation  about  the  Bishop.  I  presume 
that  it  is  to  put  him  well  with  the  Queen.  After  this,  another 
interruption  by  her  sister  and  a  M.  Dumas,  who  brings  dis 
agreeable  tidings  respecting  an  affair  in  which  she  was  con 
cerned.  Then  comes  M.  de  Curt,  full  of  amorous  declara 
tion  and  protestation.  I  leave  this  scene  at  eight,  and  go 
again  to  Madame  Foucault's.  She  tells  me  that  her  hus 
band  has  taken  it  into  his  head  to  go  to  Nantes,  and  in 
that  case  she  is  resolved  to  go  to  England  with  one  of  her 
friends  or  with  me.  She  says  he  is  a  very  bad  fellow- 
traveller.  At  ten  M.  Stebell  comes  in.  A  Mademoiselle 
Chevalier,  about  fifteen,  plays  on  the  forte-piano  admirably 
well  a  piece  of  her  own  composition,  which  has  great 
merit.  Her  brother,  younger  than  herself,  plays  another 
piece  very  well.  After  that  M.  Stebell,  who  is  wonderful. 
This  man  makes  from  five  to  ten  guineas  per  day.  He 
receives  for  his  visit  here  this  evening  fifty  livres.  It  is 
said  that  he  wastes  with  levity  what  he  acquires  with  so 
much  ease." 

"  This  morning  [April  i6th]  I  visit  Paine  and  Mr. 
Hodges.  The  former  is  abroad,  the  latter  in  the  wretched 
apartments  which  they  occupy.  He  speaks  of  Paine  as 
being  a  little  mad,  which  is  not  improbable.  Visit  Madame 
de  Trudaine,*  who  being  denied,  I  ask  for  paper  and  com 
mence  a  note  to  her,  but  before  it  is  finished  a  servant 

*  The  salon  of  Madame  de  Trudaine  was  known  familiarly  as  the  Salon 
du  Gargon  Philosophe.  At  one  or  two  grand  dinners  and  suppers  a  week 
she  entertained  all  the  dukes,  ambassadors,  gentlemen  of  letters  and  finance, 
strangers,  and  ministers.  The  conversation  was  at  the  same  time  solid  and 
piquant.  The  mistress  of  the  salon  sometimes  marred  the  perfect  accord  of 
her  guests  by  her  indifference. 


404  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XVIII. 

asks  me  up.  She  is  dressing,  and  St.  Andre  comes  up. 
Nothing  here.  Madame  receives  me  well,  and  we  are  to 
be  unpeu  plus  lie's  ensemble.  Call  on  Short,  and  take  him  to 
Madame  de  StaeTs.  After  dinner  we  have  a  fine  scene  of 
vociferous  argumentation  between  her  and  an  abbe.  I 
tell  her  that  when  she  gets  to  Switzerland  she  must  let  her 
head  cool,  and  then  digest  her  ideas  of  government,  which 
will  become  sound  by  her  own  reflections.  Go  from 
thence  to  Madame  de  Beaumont's,  where  we  make  a  long 
visit,  and  then  go  to  the  Louvre,  and  after  a  while  Madame 
goes  into  the  bath,  and  the  society  wait  on  her  there.  I 
stay  till  after  supper,  and  then  take  Mademoiselle  Duplessis 
home.  In  the  way  I  am  sprightly,  and  she  is  pleased. 
Ternant,  whom  I  saw  at  M.  de  Montmorin's,  tells  me  that 
Fleurieu,  the  Minister  of  the  Marine,  is  about  to  quit  his 
post,  and  that  he  thinks  he  will  be  replaced  by  M.  de 
Bougainville.  Montmorin  reminded  me  that  I  am  to  call 
on  Monday." 

"  Go  [April  i yth]  after  dinner  to  the  Louvre.  We  visit 
together  Madame  de  Nadaillac,  whose  son  is  ill  with  the 
small-pox.  Madame  de  Flahaut,  after  returning  home, 
takes  again  her  bath.  I  go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs  ;  a  brill 
iant  society.  The  British  ambassadress,  who  is  here,  is 
much  entoure'e  by  the  young  men  of  fashion.  At  coming 
away  the  Comte  de  Montmorin,  who  is  here,  tells  me  that 
he  cannot  give  me  an  answer  to-morrow,  not  having  been 
able  to  speak  to  the  King  this  day.  It  has  been  fine 
weather." 

"This  morning  [April  i8th]  Swan  and  Bremond  come.  I 
converse  with  them  respecting  the  supply  of  rations  to  the 
French  marine.  We  have  this  day  very  much  of  a  riot  at 
the  Tuileries.  The  King  intends  for  St.  Cloud,  but  is 
stopped,  not  merely  by  the  populace,  but  by  the  national 
militia,  who  refuse  to  obey  their  general.  It  seems  that 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  405 

His  Majesty,  having  sanctioned  the  decree  respecting  the 
clergy,  and  afterwards  applied  to  one  of  the  non-jurors  to 
perform  the  ceremonies  enjoined  at  this  season,  has  in 
curred  the  charge  of  duplicity.  I  am  a  long  time  in  ex 
pectation  of  a  battle,  but  am  at  length  told  that  the  King 
submits.  Call  at  the  Louvre,  where  I  find  M.  de  Curt 
established.  Go  away  directly,  and  visit  Madame  de  Na- 
daillac.  As  she  urges  me  to  prolong  my  visit,  and  as  it 
is  late,  I  send  to  the  guinguette  for  a  matelote,  and  dine  in 
her  chamber.  She  makes  many  fa$ons,  but  we  get  along. 
We  shall  see  how  things  go,  by  and  by.  .  .  .  M.  Vicq 
d'Azyr  shows  me  the  letter  written  by  the  department 
to  the  King.  It  is  dictatorial  in  the  extreme.  Madame 
de  Flahaut  had  already  informed  me  of  it,  but  I  am  obliged 
to  disapprove  of  it." 


406  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Shows  M.  de  Montmorin  draught  of  a  letter  devised  as  an  answer  from  the 
king  to  the  department.  The  entotirs  of  the  king  resign.  Resignation 
of  Lafayette.  Sketch  of  European  politics  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Inglis,  of 
London.  A  republic  becoming  fashionable.  Lady  Sutherland's  gra- 
ciousness.  Lafayette  accepts  the  position  of  head  of  the  National 
Guards.  Montesquiou  asks  Morris  how  to  amend  the  constitution. 
Celebration  of  the  suppression  of  the  octroi.  Conversation  with 
Montmorin.  Madame  de  Nadaillac's  coquettish  character.  Morris 
suggests  to  several  ladies  positions  near  the  queen.  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  expects  one  soon.  Montmorin  weary  of  the  situation.  Visit  to 
Madame  de  Nadaillac. 


morning  [April  2oth]  M.  Bremond  and  M. 
Jaubert  call.  Set  them  to  work  to  bring  the 
Jacobins  to  the  King's  relief  in  the  attack  of  the  depart 
ment.  I  dress  and  visit  the  Comte  de  Montmorin,  to  whom 
I  show  the  form  of  a  letter  I  had  devised  as  an  answer  from 
the  King  to  the  department.  He  tells  me  that  these  last 
were  frightened  into  the  step  they  have  taken.  This  is,  I 
know,  partly  true,  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  step  is  bold 
and,  if  successful,  decisive.  After  conversing  upon  the 
present  state  of  affairs,  we  have  one  word  on  business.  He 
has  not  been  able  to  attend  to  it,  from  the  circumstances  of 
the  moment.  Visit  Madame  de  Montmorin,  and  sit  some 
time  ;  she  is  much  distressed  by  the  fear  of  pillage  and  in 
sult,  the  Baron  de  Menou  having  denounced  her  hus 
band  last  night.  I  laugh  at  this  denunciation  as  ridicu 
lous,  and  endeavor  to  quiet  her  apprehensions.  Go  from 
thence  to  the  Gros  Caillou  and  visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac, 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 

who  disserts  a  great  deal  upon  politics  with  much  heat 
and  absurdity.  It  fatigues  me.  Dine  with  Mr.  Short. 
Ternant,  who  is  here,  tells  me  that  he  urged  Lafayette  to 
resign,  and  that  he  agreed,  but  found  afterwards  various 
reasons  for  not  doing  it.  This  is  like  him.  M.  de  Chate- 
let  has  brought  hither  Lord  Dare,  who  is  the  son  of  Lord 
Selkirk,  and  who  meets  here  by  accident  Paul  Jones.  He 
acknowledges  the  polite  attention  of  Jones  in  the  attack 
on  his  father's  house  in  the  last  war.  Go  from  hence  to 
the  Louvre,  but  Mademoiselle  Duplessis  is  here.  Madame 
tells  me  that  the  entours  of  the  King  have  resigned,  that 
those  of  the  Queen  will  resign,  and  that  she  has  hopes  of 
being  placed  near  Her  Majesty.  I  wish  this  may  happen. 
She  tells  me  that  she  has  written  to  d'Angeviliers  to 
travel,  having  obtained  the  assurance  that  in  such  case  it 
shall  be  no  question  of  him.  De  Curt  comes  in,  and  after 
staying  a  little  while  I  come  home,  and  read  till  Messieurs 
Bremond  and  Jaubert  call.  The  Jacobins  are  in  treaty 
with  the  Quatre-vingt-neufs*  for  an  alliance.  The  object 
is  to  prevent  a  decree  rendering  the  present  members  in 
eligible  for  the  succeeding  Assembly.  After  they  leave  me 
I  go  very  sleepy  to  bed." 

"  M.  Bremond  comes   [April  2ist]   to  tell  me  what  had 
passed  at  the  Jacobins',  etc.     Dress,  ride  with  Mr.  Short, 

*  The  Club  of  '89,  which  Morris  here  alludes  to  as  the  Quatre-vingt- 
neuf,  was  a  dismemberment  of  that  of  the  Jacobins.  Malouet  and  some 
of  his  friends,  becoming  alarmed  at  the  extreme  tendencies  of  the  Club  des 
Jacobins,  conceived  the  plan  of  forming  a  rival  society,  which  they  accordingly 
did  in  April,  1790.  The  schismatics  installed  themselves  in  superb  apartments 
in  the  Palais  Royal,  under  the  name  of  the  Club  of '89.  It  would  seem  that  the 
new  club  was  by  no  means  uncorrupt,  when  Sieyes  could  exclaim,  in  an  ac 
cess  of  virtuous  brutality,  "  that  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  Jacobins 
of  whom  I  have  a  horror,  I  like  all  the  members  of  that  club,  and  with  the  ex 
ception  oi  a  dozen  members  among  you  I  distrust  all  of  you."  While  the 
Club  of  '89  enjoyed  their  beautiful  surroundings,  the  old  Jacobin  Club  of  the 
Rue  St.  Honore  manufactured,  by  the  light  of  their  flambeaux,  the  means  to 
push  the  Revolution  to  its  completion. 


408  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

and  then  call  on  Madame  de  Flahaut,  with  whom  I  have 
some  conversation  on  political  affairs.  Dine  with  the 
British  ambassadress.  We  are  en  famille.  She  is  a  very 
pleasing  woman.  Visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac.  Every 
thing  here  is  filthy.  The  weather  is  rainy.  Lafayette's 
resignation  makes  much  noise.  It  is  probable  that  he 
will  reaccept,  in  which  case  he  will  be  worse  than  ever. 
At  the  Louvre,  Madame  de  Flahaut  has  with  her  a  con 
fidant  of  De  La  Porte,  who  comes  to  communicate  the  in 
tention  of  the  King  to  employ  monsieur  ;  but  she  will  write 
a  note  to  decline  it,  containing  very  good  advice  for  His 
Majesty.  I  tell  her  she  must  give  me  a  copy  of  it.  The 
King's  intention  arose  from  the  request  of  d'Angiviliers. 
Go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's,  and  sit  some  time  with  Madame 
de  Beaumont  and  Madame  de  Montmorin.  A  rising 
thunder-storm  induces  Madame  de  Montmorin  to  express 
some  wishes  not  favorable  to  the  disturbers  of  the  public 
repose.  As  it  is  a  question  whether  Lafayette  will  reac 
cept,  she  expresses  very  just  opinions  on  his  subject  :  that 
his  weakness  has  done  much  mischief  and  prevented  much 
good,  but  that  it  is  better  to  be  swayed  by  weakness  than 
by  wickedness,  and  that  his  successor  would  probably  be 
one  of  those  who  mean  most  illy.  After  dinner  I  speak  to 
Montmorin,  who  has  done  nothing  in  the  business.  I  com 
municate  to  him  the  cause  of  the  intended  coalition  be 
tween  the  Quatre-vingt-neufs  and  Jacobins.  He  tells  me 
that  he  could  have  got  the  exclusive  decree  passed  long 
ago  if  he  would,  but  he  was  afraid  of  the  four-years  de 
cree,  which  has  been  nevertheless  adopted.  I  tell  him 
that  if  he  can  get  the  former  now  passed  it  will  be  the 
means  of  splitting  the  Jacobins  and  Quatre-vingt-neufs, 
after  which  they  will  both  be  more  tractable.  I  give  him, 
further,  my  opinion  that  the  King  must  endeavor  to  join 
the  populace.  He  agrees  in  this." 


I79I.J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  409 

A  slight  sketch  of  European  politics — from  Morris's 
point  of  view — given  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  John  Inglis,  of  Lon 
don,  just  at  this  time,  is  not  without  interest.  He  says  : 

"  You  ask  my  opinion  of  politics.  It  is  difficult  to  form 
an  opinion,  because  much  depends  on  the  opinion  of  oth 
ers,  which  is  fluctuating.  Your  Court  are  in  honor  bound 
to  support  the  Turk,  because  you  egged  him  on  to  the  war 
in  which  he  has  been  so  abominably  mauled.  The  Em 
press  can  hardly,  I  think,  wish  to  possess  herself  of  Con 
stantinople,  because  she  would  hardly  dream  of  holding 
such  extensive  dominion,  not  to  mention  the  blood  and 
treasure  she  must  expend  for  the  acquisition.  I  think, 
however,  that  she  must  be  more  or  less  than  human  if  she 
does  not  wish  to  make  you  repent  of  your  various  aggres 
sions.  I  think  she  can  do  this  with  infinite  ease.  A  dec 
laration  of  war  will  necessarily  put  you  to  great  expense. 
She  has  no  trade.  Many  thousand  beggars  and  vagabonds 
will  joyfully  accept  her  permission  to  pillage.  The  idea 
of  going  to  Petersburg  seems  to  me  ridiculous.  The  risk 
is  great  and  the  object  small.  To  acquire  Thun  and  Dant- 
zic  for  Prussia  by  tricking  the  Pole  will  do  you  no  good, 
and,  as  far  as  I  can  look  forward  to  futurity,  it  would  tend 
first  to  invigorate  the  government  of  Poland,  and  then  to 
dispossess  Prussia  of  all  that  tract  of  country  which  lies 
between  Russia,  Poland,  and  the  Baltic,  for  it  would  be 
the  interest  of  Russia  and  Austria  to  give  these  to  Poland. 
A  war  with  Russia  will  deprive  you  entirely  of  what  is 
called  the  carrying  trade,  and  will  lay  from  eight  to  ten 
guineas  per  cent,  tax  upon  your  other  trade.  The  first 
mischance  that  happens  will  change  your  ministry,  and 
you  will  easily  get  peace,  because  just  now  nobody  can 
get  anything  by  the  war.  I  think  further  that  the  mani 
fold  blunders  here  open  for  you  a  fair  chance  to  be  inti 
mately  connected  with  America,  if  your  rulers  could  make 


410  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

use  of  the  opportunity.     But   prejudice  and  profit  some 
times  stand  in  the  way  of  each  other." 

"  In  going  [April  23d]  to  the  Louvre,  one  of  my  wheels 
comes  off,  and  by  that  means  my  carriage  gets  much  in 
jured.  When  I  reach  the  Louvre  M.  de  Flahaut  meets 
me,  and  complains  that  madame  is  going  to  the  Assembly 
with  M.  Ricy.  She  tells  me  that  she  is  in  a  great  hurry  ; 
M.  de  Montmorin  is  to  read  his  instruction  to  the  foreign 
ministers,  informing  them  that  the  King  has  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  Revolution.  I  do  not  see  that  this  can 
be  a  matter  of  much  moment  to  her.  Go  home  and  write 
till  three,  and  then  dine  with  Madame  de  Trudaine.  After 
dinner  monsieur  expresses  himself  in  favor  of  a  republi 
can  government,  which  is  growing  now  to  be  very  fashion 
able.  Endeavor  to  show  him  the  folly  of  such  an  attempt, 
but  I  had  better  have  let  it  alone.  Go  from  hence  to  Ma 
dame  de  Guibert's,  where,  of  course,  I  meet  the  esprit  jacobin. 
Thence  to  Madame  Laborde's.  She  complains  much  of 
the  republican  party,  and  asks  me  why  I  do  not  express 
my  sentiments  to  the  Bishop  of  Autun.  I  tell  her  that  they 
would  have  no  weight,  which  is  true.  Call  on  Madame  de 
Stael,  who  is  denied  to  me  ;  but,  her  servant  being  in  gala, 
I  am  sure  she  is  to  have  company,  and  Montmorency  is  ad 
mitted  at  the  same  moment.  Go  to  visit  the  British  am 
bassadress.  They  have  had  many  English  to  dine,  and 
among  them  General  Dalrymple.  After  a  while  they  go 
to  the  play,  and  I  take  an  opportunity  to  ask  her  ladyship 
when  she  is  most  visible.  She  says  that  Wednesday  was 
her  day,  but  she  has  none  now  in  particular  ;  I  may  rely, 
however,  that  I  shall  always  find  her  at  home  when  she 
really  is  at  home.  In  this  I  am  sure,  by  her  voice  and 
manner,  she  is  sincere,  and  I  reply  in  according  accents. 
She  is  a  charming  woman.  Go  from  hence  to  the  Comte 
de  Montmorin's,  and  have  a  long  and  interesting  conver- 


I79I-J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  411 

sation  with  his  wife  on  public  affairs.  Urge,  among  other 
things,  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  changing  the 
entours  of  the  Queen." 

"  This  morning  [April  25th]  Paine  calls  and  tells  me 
that  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  has  accepted  the  position 
of  head  of  the  National  Guards." 

The  dramatic  side  of  this  apparent  devotion  to  Lafa 
yette  was  intense  and  thoroughly  French.  Through  the 
rain  and  on  foot  the  Corps  Municipal  went  to  him  and  on 
their  knees  took  oath  to  meet  him  again  at  the  head  of 
the  National  Guards.  But  the  blow  had  been  struck,  this 
oath  of  blind  obedience  was  soon  turned  into  ridicule, 
and  the  battalion  wrhich  first  took  it  was  called  in  derision 
"  Le  bataillon  des  aveugles."  Lafayette's  power,  under  the 
aspersions  of  Marat,  the  cries  of  some  to  beware  of  "Crom 
well,"  and  the  warnings  of  Camille  Desmoulins,  mingled 
with  his  despairing  wail  that  "  Paris,  a  bien  meilleur  droit 
que  la  ville  des  Etats-Unis,  pourrait  s'appeler  Fayette- 
ville,"  was  on  the  downward  road.  Lafayette,  said  I? ami 
du  Peuple,  was  to  be  seen,  in  the  hat  of  a  simple  grenadier, 
going  through  the  cabarets  and  cafes  trying  to  reanimate 
the  soldiers  and  his  dying  popularity. 

"Madame  de  Flahaut,  I  find  [April  26th],  has  not  de 
clined  the  plan  proposed  for  her  husband.  Her  Bishop 
advises  otherwise,  because  the  King  may  make  such  a 
choice  as  that  M.  de  Flahaut  will  not  be  unsuitable  to  the 
rest,  and  because  the  refusal  may  offend  a  weak  mind 
though  founded  on  reasons  which  should  attach.  I  add  a 
reason  which  had  arisen  in  my  mind,  viz.,  that  when  once 
taken  up  the  Court  cannot  again  let  them  fall,  so  that  it 
will  be  a  kind  of  provision  for  her  in  all  events.  Go  and 
sit  with  Madame  de  Segur  some  time.  She  shows  me  the 
letter  from  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  Madame  de  Chastellux, 
with  the  answer  of  the  latter.  I  find  Lady  Sutherland  at 


412  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

Madame  de  StaeTs.  She  tells  me  that  the  Duke  of  Leeds 
has  resigned.  I  express  a  hope,  should  I  stay  some  time 
in  Europe,  to  see  her  at  the  head  of  the  Foreign  Affairs. 
She  says  she  should  like  it  very  much,  but  Lord  Gower  is 
yet  too  young.  I  tell  her  that  two  or  three  years  hence 

he  will  have  acquired  the  tact,  and  then -.     He  comes 

in  just  before  I  leave  this  place,  and  mentions  also  the 
resignation  of  the  Duke.  I  ask  if  Hawkesbury  is  to  suc 
ceed.  He  does  not  know.  He  seems  so  anxious  to  prove 
that  the  Duke's  health  is  the  cause  of  the  resignation  that 
I  cannot  help  assigning  it  in  my  mind  to  some  difference 
in  the  administration.  Visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac,  from 
whom  I  had  received  a  note  complaining  of  neglect.  We 
laugh  and  chatter  and  toy,  and  she  complains  of  my 
want  of  respect,  but  I  think  I  must  be  less  respectful  to 
be  more  agreeable  ;  in  the  course  of  a  little  amorous 
conversation  she  tells  me  that  I  must  not  expect  she 
would  capitulate,  for  she  feels  too  much  her  religious  and 
moral  duties  ;  that  if  she  should,  however,  be  frail,  she 
should  poison  herself  next  morning.  I  laugh  at  this. 
Go  hence  to  M.  de  Montmorin's  to  dinner.  After  dinner 
I  have  a  long  conversation  with  him,  partly  on  political 
affairs.  He  promises  to  speak  to  the  King  on  the  busi 
ness  in  the  course  of  the  week.  He  has  mentioned  it  to 
the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  who  approves.  Among  various 
other  things  I  suggest  an  act  of  oblivion  by  the  Assem 
bly  and  thereon  another  revolution  letter.  He  approves 
much  of  this,  telling  me  that  he  is  now  preparing  a  letter 
from  the  King  to  the  Prince  of  Conde.  I  come  home,  to 
meet  M.  Bremond  and  set  him  to  work  among  the  Jaco 
bins  to  get  the  decree  or  act  of  oblivion  moved  by  them. 

"  Conversing  with  Madame  de  Flahaut  on  affairs  to-day, 
from  wrhat  she  says,  but  more  from  what  she  does  not 
say,  I  find  there  is  a  plan  on  foot  to  force  all  power  from 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  413 

* 
the    King   into  the    hands  of   the    present  leaders  of   the 

Opposition.  While  I  am  at  the  Louvre,  Montesquiou 
comes  in,  and  I  remind  him  of  what  I  said  respecting 
their  constitution.  He  begins  to  fear  that  I  was  in  the 
right.  He  asks  how  the  evil  is  to  be  remedied.  I  tell 
him  that  there  seems  to  be  little  chance  for  avoiding  the 
extremes  of  despotism  or  anarchy  ;  that  the  only  ground 
of  hope  must  be  the  morals  of  the  people,  but  that  these 
are,  I  fear,  too  corrupt.  He  is  sure  they  are.  Madame 
told  me  this  morning  that  M.  de  Curt  is  to  be  Minister 
of  the  Marine,  if  the  decree  of  quatre  ans  is  revoked. 
M.  Monciel*  comes  to  see  me,  and  gives  me  an  account 
of  what  he  has  done  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Jacobins. 
He  is  to  have  a  further  conference.  They  think  it 
will  be  best  to  act  in  concert  with  the  Court,  without  ap 
pearing  to  do  so,  lest  thereby  they  should  lose  their  popu 
larity.  I  agree  in  the  propriety  of  this,  and  urge  conform 
ably  to  what  I  suppose  their  views  to  be,  a  repeal  of  the 
decree  des  quatre  ans  and  the  decree  of  re-eligibility.  He 
is  to  propose  this  to  them  and  to  obtain,  if  he  can,  a  list  of 
the  articles  they  desire  ;  also,  if  possible,  of  the  places  they 
aspire  to." 

"We  are  en  famille  at  the  British  ambassador's  to-day 
[April  3oth]  at  dinner.  Cubieres  comes  with  Robert,  and 
they  have  a  collection  of  the  portraits  of  Petite  in  enamel, 
which  are  very  fine.  Go  from  hence  to  the  Louvre. 
Madame  de  Flahaut  is  dressing.  She  tells  me  that  she 

*  M.  Terrier  de  Monciel  belonged  to  a  distinguished  family  of  Franche 
Comte.  He  was  Roland's  successor  as  minister  in  June,  1792,  just  before 
the  catastrophe  of  the  2oth  of  June,  which  he  had  not  foreseen  and  which  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  prevent,  though  he  did  all  in  his  power,  how 
ever,  to  re-establish  order.  He  said  in  the  National  Assembly,  the  day  after, 
that  "  the  action  against  the  king  should  put  all  France  into  eternal  mourn 
ing."  Forced,  finally,  to  leave  the  ministry,  he  however  remained  in  Paris 
during  the  revolution  of  August  loth,  and  afterward  had  the  good  fortune  to 
escape  the  proscription  of  1793.  He  died  in  September,  1831. 


4H  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

has  good  hopes  of  succeeding  to  the  place  she  aims  at. 
Sit  a  long  time  with  Madame  de  Foucault  and  Madame  de 
Ricy  ;  afterwards  sup.  When  we  get  into  the  salon  we 
have  a  deal  of  metaphysical  conversation  ;  a  gentleman 
who  has  read  Locke  on  '  The  Human  Understanding ' 
shows  off." 

Firing  of  cannon  and  processions  of  shouting  people, 
giving  expression  to  their  feelings,  were  of  such  common 
occurrence  in  Paris  that  Morris  does  not  even  allude  to 
the  "  Kermesse  de  la  Revolution,"  which  took  place  on 
the  3oth  of  April,  to  celebrate  the  suppression  of  the 
octroi,  when  boats  and  troops  of  wagons,  laden  with  mer 
chandise  and  wine,  which  had  been  waiting  outside  of 
Paris,  came  in  decorated  ;  their  drivers  and  men  in  charge, 
crowned  with  branches,  having  liberally  partaken  of  the 
wine  and  beer  that  they  were  bringing  free  into  the  town. 
It  was  calculated  that  each  tax-payer  gained  about  one 
hundred  livres  by  the  suppression  of  the  octroi,  and  the 
people  were  more  content  \vith  life  on  a  cheaper  basis. 
Commerce,  however,  "the  commerce  of  luxury,  of  use 
less  things,  of  nothing,"  was  dead.  The  carnival  was  for 
bidden,  and  with  it  went  the  support  of  a  vast  army  of 
workers  on  costumes,  notably  in  the  house  of  the  famous 
costumers,  Lambert  et  Renaudin.  There  was  no  longer 
a  nobility  able  and  longing  to  gratify  every  whim  in  art, 
dress,  and  the  nameless  things  that  money  could  be  wasted 
on.  The  Abbe  Maury — and  a  host  like  him — could  no 
longer  indulge  in  the  possession  of  eight  hundred  farms, 
and  delicious  breakfasts  which  he  partook  of  reclining  in 
the  most  beautiful  and  luxurious  of  fauteuils.  The  rich 
bourgeois  were  reduced  to  living  on  the  proceeds  of  what 
they  could  sell.  The  Place  Vendome  was  full  of  people 
demanding  work,  and  caricatures  were  not  wanting  to  en 
force  the  destitution  of  artisans  upon  those  in  power. 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  41 5 

The  patriots  tried  in  vain  to  revive  commerce,  the  papers 
talked  in  vain ;  commerce  had  passed  into  other  countries. 
Vice  grew  like  a  rank  weed,  the  uncertainty  of  everything 
fostered  a  general  demoralization,  and  the  police,  deeply 
engaged  in  political  affairs,  allowed  the  streets  to  swarm 
with  immorality  and  misery  in  the  most  revolting  forms. 

It  might  seem  that  Paris  had  reached  the  lowest  depths 
when  the  Council  of  the  Commune  in  1793  cleaned  the 
streets  and  forbade  the  selling  of  indecent  books,  pic 
tures,  and  bas-reliefs  ;  but  there  were  lower  depths  to 
reach.  Good  manners  and  morality  might  be  decreed, 
but  vicious  manners  and  immorality  were  more  attrac 
tive,  and  steadily  increased.  Some  excitement  was  neces 
sary,  and  the  caricaturist  was  kept  busy  turning  the  aris 
tocracy  into  ridicule  in  the  most  indecent  pictures  — 
which  were  exposed  in  the  windows  to  a  delighted  public. 
The  Veto  was  represented  as  a  giant,  light  coming  out  of 
his  mouth.  The  priest,  not  more  exempt  than  the  noble, 
could  be  seen  in  the  barber-shop,  with  the  legend  :  "  Ici 
on  secularise  proprement  ;  on  me  rase  ce  matin,  je  me 
marie  ce  soir."  The  Assemblee  des  Aristocrats  of  course 
came  in  for  their  share  of  the  public  scorn.  But  to  enu 
merate  the  squibs  and  caricatures  would  be  an  endless 
task  which  it  evidently  did  not  occur  to  Morris  even 
to  enter  upon,  and  he  rarely  mentions  this  phase  of  the 
Revolution,  and  was  doubtless  too  preoccupied  with  its 
political  to  notice  much  its  picturesque  side. 

"  I  have  a  long  conversation  after  dinner,"  says  the 
diary  for  May  ist,  ''with  M.  de  Montmorin,  in  the  course 
of  which  I  show  him  a  note  I  have  made  on  their  situa 
tion.  He  begs  me  to  let  him  have  it,  and  I  give  it,  but 
with  thl  injunction  that  none  but  their  majesties  shall 
know  from  whom  it  comes.  He  has  not  yet  had  an  op 
portunity  to  resume  again  the  affairs  of  the  rations.  I 


416  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

inform  him  of  what  has  been  done  with  the  chiefs  of  the 
Jacobins.  He  tells  me  how  the  ministry  stand  in  that  re 
spect.  He  assures  me  that  they  can  do  nothing  with  the 
King  but  through  him.  He  mentions  a  wish  to  have  com 
missaries  appointed  by  the  Crown  to  keep  the  peace  in 
the  different  Departments,  etc.  I  reply  that  all  officers 
concerned  in  keeping  the  peace  should  be  appointed  by 
the  Crown,  but  that  it  is  too  early  to  propose  anything 
of  the  sort.  Experience  must  first  demonstrate  the  ne 
cessity.  He  tells  me  that  he  has  indisputable  evidence 
of  the  intrigues  of  Britain  and  Prussia  ;  that  they  give 
money  to  the  Prince  of  Conde  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
He  says  that  he  will  resign  the  place  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
because  he  can  no  longer  act  in  it  with  dignity.  I  ad 
vise  against  this,  assuring  him  that  his  letter  will  be 
viewed  by  foreign  nations  in  its  true  light.  He  says  that 
he  would,  if  in  office,  bring  on  a  war  next  year.  I  tell 
him  that  he  should  provoke  it  as  soon  as  possible,  but 
that  it  should  be  a  land  war.  He  says  that  a  sea  war  with 
Britain  is  alone  practicable,  and  in  that  case  they  would 
be  alone,  for  Spain  will  not  act  with  them.  I  ask  him  how 
the  Emperor  is  disposed.  He  tells  me  that  he  is  feeble 
and  pacific  ;  that  he  will  take  no  great  part  for  or  against 
anybody,  and  if  he  interferes  at  all,  it  must  be  to  get  his 
share  of  the  spoil.  I  tell  him  that  I  have  a  different  view 
of  things  from  him  ;  that  the  war  should  be  by  land  and 
general  ;  that  Poland  should  be  tempted  by  the  country 
which  lies  between  her  and  the  Baltic  ;  Austria  to  have 
Silesia  and,  in  exchange  for  the  Low  Countries,  Bavaria ; 
France  to  have  the  Low  Countries,  and  to  make  an  in 
cursion  into  Holland  ;  Constantinople  to  be  given  to  the 
Order  of  Malta  for  the  joint  use  of  all  Christendom.  He 
starts  at  this,  which  is  too  great  for  his  mind,  but  I  think 
it  may  be  brought  about.  It  would  cost  France  her  isl- 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  417 

ands,  in  all  probability,  but  I  have  a  different  plan  for 
them,  which  I  do  not  communicate.  We  agree  on  the 
language  to  be  held  with  the  chefs  des  Jacobins. 

"  M.  Bremond  visits  me.  He  shows  a  new  proposition 
from  Lamerville  respecting  the  German  rations.  He  gives 
me,  also,  the  list  of  articles  desired  by  the  chiefs  of  the 
Jacobins.  Dine  with  Montmorin.  Bouinville  is  here.  He 
is  just  returned  from  England.  He  tells  me  that  Paine's 
book  works  mightily  in  England,  and  he  says  that  Pitt  dares 
not  hazard  a  war  with  Russia,  it  is  so  unpopular ;  that  he 
has  again  begun  new  negotiations,  which  will  probably  last 
until  the  season  is  spent.  M.  Bremond  and  M.  Jaubert  call 
again  on  me.  They  communicate  some  information  of 
little  value,  and  ask  my  opinion  as  to  the  propriety  of 
bringing  the  latter  forward  to  the  chiefs  of  the  Jacobins. 
I  tell  them  I  think  there  is  danger  of  alarming  those  gen 
tlemen.  Show  how  alone  it  can  be  done  without  great 
hazard.  These  people  are  too  precipitate.  Bremond  tells 
me  he  has  taken  measures  to  be  employed  in  digesting  the 
decrees  of  the  Assembly  and  selecting  those  which  are  to 
form  the  Constitution  from  the  mass.  I  approve  of  this. 

"Visit  Madame  de  Nadaillac,  who  does  not  admit  me 
for  some  time.  I  perceive  afterwards  that  she  was  in  too 
sluttish  a  trim,  'and  has  to  go  into  bed  to  conceal  it.  We 
chat  in  such  manner  as  I  think  most  fitting  for  a  little  co 
quette,  and  such  as  leaves  it  always  doubtful  with  her 
whether  she  has  or  has  not  possession  of  my  heart.  If 
she  does  not  take  care  she  will,  in  trying  to  catch  me,  find 
herself  caught.  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  that  d'An- 
giviliers,  her  brother-in-law,  has  resigned,  and  is  set  off 
for  Italy  by  way  of  avoiding  the  accusations  against  him. 
This  is  a  cruel  stroke  to  her,  who  has  no  means  of  exist 
ence  but  through  him.  I  take  her  home  and  stay  a 
little  while  ;  then  call,  at  her  instigation,  to  inquire  if 
27 


41 8  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

a  place  about  the  Queen  will  be  acceptable  to  Madame  le 
Coulteux.  My  friend,  Laurent  le  Coulteux,  answers  in 
the  negative." 

"  Call  on  the  Baron  de  Besenval,  and  sit  with  him  a 
while  [May  3d].  Then  go  to  the  dairy  of  the  '  Enfant 
Jesus,'  where  cream,  butter,  and  eggs  are  to  be  had  in  great 
profusion.  Take  some  of  each,  and  go  to  the  Louvre, 
where  there  is  a  confidant  of  M.  du  Porte,  the  Minister  of 
the  Civil  List,  with  whom  madame  has  a  long  conversation 
apart.  During  that  period  monsieur  confides  to  me  his 
griefs,  his  hopes,  and  fears.  M.  de  Leinou  tells  me 
that  he  is  well  informed  the  secretary  of  the  Prince  of 
Conde  has  taken  a  large  bribe  and  come  over  with  his 
master's  papers.  He  says,  also,  that  news  just  arrived 
from  England  show  that  a  war  between  that  country  and 
this  is  unavoidable.  His  first  news  may  be  true,  but  his 
last  must,  I  think,  be  false.  I  tell  him  so,  and  add  that  in 
n  war  between  France  and  England,  single-handed,  I 
would  stake  my  fortune  in  favor  of  France,  if  tolerably 
governed.  Dress  and  go  to  dine  with  Duportail,  where  I 
see,  after  dinner,  Jouvion,  and  converse  with  him  respect 
ing  the  future  commandant  of  the  Garde  Nationale.  I 
think  he  must  be  the  man.  Go  from  hence  to  the  Comte 
de  Montmorin's.  He  has  not  yet  mentioned  the  affair  of 
the  rations  to  the  King.  He  promises  to  speak  about  the 
affair  to-morrow  ;  is  afraid  of  the  thing  being  known.  I 
mention  to  him  some  political  points,  particularly  the  ne 
cessity  of  changing  the  household  of  their  majesties  ;  ask 
him  who  is  to  succeed  Lafayette,  and  observe  that  he 
should  look  round  for  a  proper  character.  He  mentions 
Jouvion.  I  leave  him,  and  walk  with  Madame  de  Beau 
mont.  I  find  that  her  father  has  communicated  something 
of  the  object,  if  not  of  the  substance,  of  my  conversations 
with  him.  At  the  request  of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  I  speak 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  419 

to  Madame  le  Coulteux,  to  know  if  she  will  accept  of  a 
place  near  the  Queen.  She  would  like  it  much,  but  is 
afraid  that  it  will  not  be  agreeable  to  her  husband  and  his 
family.  She  is  to  write  to  me  to-morrow  after  consulting 
him.  She  wishes  the  place  for  her  sister,  in  case  she  does 
not  take  it." 

"  Walk  [May  pth]  with  Madame  de  Beaumont,  who  says 
she  would  not  like  to  be  one  of  the  Queen's  women,  but 
will  do  whatever  her  father  desires.  After  dinner  con 
verse  with  him.  The  King  agrees  to  the  affair  of  the  ra 
tions,  provided  he  can  be  sure  above  all  things  of  the 
secret.  In  a  few  days  he  will  reform  his  household. 
Montmorin  quits  the  Foreign  Affairs.  He  is  to  be  suc 
ceeded  by  Choiseul-Gouffier,  who  is  now  at  Constanti 
nople.  He  says  he  will  continue  in  the  Council,  but  will 
not  have  a  department.  Everyone  who  may  now  get  into 
place  he  considers  un  etre  e'phe'm'&re,  and  justly.  At  Ma 
dame  de  Foucault's  M.  de  Fauchet  reads  an  excellent  com 
edy  which  he  has  written.  Bouinville  is  here.  I  take  him 
home,  and  en  route  he  complains  of  Duportail's  ingratitude 
to  Lafayette.  He  says  that  Montmorin  was  very  low- 
spirited  this  morning.  I  tell  him  what  I  had  told  Mont 
morin — that  things  must  grow  worse  before  they  can 
mend.  The  weather  is  grown  milder,  but  during  my  walk 
this  morning  I  observe  that  the  vines  have  suffered  by  the 
frost,  At  table  they  say  that  no  mischief  was  done  in  the 
open  country,  owing  to  the  wind.  M.  Bremond  calls, 
and  I  tell  him  that  I  am  in  hopes  of  getting  the  money 
which  may  be  needful  for  the  rations.  He  tells  me  that 
he  is  to  be  employed  by  the  Jacobin  chieftains  to  form  a 
selection  of  constitutional  articles,  and  also  to  consult  on 
the  means  of  restoring  order.  Visit  Madame  de  Segur, 
and  she  gives  me  the  talk  of  the  society,  and  that  is  very 
near  the  truth.  So  much  for  the  secrecy  of  this  Court." 


420  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

"Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  to-day  [May  i5th]  that 
she  expects  soon  to  be  placed  as  the  first  woman  of  the 
Queen,  who  will  reserve  the  education  of  her  daughter. 
The  Dauphin  is  to  go  into  the  hands  of  a  man.  This 
place  is,  I  think,  Montmorin's  object,  for  he  told  me  he 
would  accept  an  office  in  the  household.  Dine  at  M.  de 
Montmorin's  and  communicate  what  I  had  learnt  at  Ma 
dame  de  Guibert's  from  M.  Toulangeon  ;  viz.,  that  the 
Colonists  are  defeated  in  their  view  of  excluding  the  mu- 
lattoes  from  a  share  in  the  government.  This  \vill  occa 
sion  much  heat  among  them.  I  find  that  it  is  very  dis 
agreeable  here.  After,  dinner  converse  with  him  apart. 
He  fixes  next  Tuesday  for  a  meeting  with  Duport  about 
the  rations,  but  expresses  his  fear  that  the  Assembly  will 
not  agree.  I  tell  him  that  as  he  retires  from  foreign 
affairs  he  should  secure  the  civil  list,  which  is  the  only 
real  source  of  authority.  He  says  he  is  not  fit  to  manage 
money  matters  ;  that  he  is  weary  of  the  state  he  is  in  ; 
that  if  he  could  realize  his  fortune  he  would  go  to  Amer 
ica.  He  says  that  nothing  would  keep  him  near  the 
Court  except  his  desire  to  serve,  or  rather  save,  the  King 
and  Queen  ;  that  he  has  already  occasioned  to  them  a  vast 
expense  for  an  object  which  has  not  succeeded.  I  tell 
him  that  the  attempt  to  buy  the  members  of  the  Assembly 
was  a  bad  measure.  He  says  it  was  not  in  that  he  occa 
sioned  the  expense.  He  is  called  away  before  we  can  go 
further.  I  go  to  the  British  ambassador's,  and  on  enter 
ing  Lady  Sutherland  apologizes  to  me  for  being  denied 
the  other  afternoon  I  called.  She  says  there  are  so  many 
Frenchmen  who  break  in  upon  her  that  she  is  obliged  to 
give  orders  for  shutting  her  door,  but  I  may  depend  that  it 
will  not  happen  again.  I  make  a  very  long  visit,  and  then 
wait  at  the  Louvre  till  the  return  of  Madame  de  Flahaut 
from  Versailles.  M.  Duport  is  here  and  is  disposed  'to 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  421 

talk  with  me.  De  Curt  comes  in,  and  is  outrageous  about 
the  decree  of  this  morning.  He  says  that  the  deputies 
from  the  Colonies  will  all  retire  to-morrow.  They  ought 
never  to  have  gone  into  the  Assembly,  and  if  they  quit 
will  become  ridiculous.  I  come  away  early,  leaving  the 
two  sisters  at  piquet  with  the  Bishop  and  St.  Foi." 

"This  morning  [May  i6th],  immediately  after  breakfast, 
I  dress  and  go  to  Versailles.  Dine  with  M.  de  Cubieres,  who 
gives  us  an  excellent  repast.  He  has  a  pretty  large  soci 
ety.  He  has  a  very  pretty  little  cabinet  of  natural  history 
and  many  little  productions  of  the  fine  arts.  I  tell  him 
that,  with  his  knowledge  of  chemistry  and  mineralogy,  he 
would  make  his  fortune  in  America.  I  come  away  at  five, 
instead  of  walking  in  his  garden,  and  visit  Madame  de 
Nadaillac,  who  persists  in  her  design  to  leave  Paris  to 
morrow  morning.  M.  de  Leinou  is  with  her,  who  tells 
me  that  he  thinks  the  separation  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
of  Orleans  will  be  amicably  adjusted.  Leave  her  with  the 
Abbe  Maury  and  Bishop  de  Caudon.  "I  learn  that  the 
West  Indies  have  retired  from  the  Assembly,  and  that  a 
decree  has  been  passed  to  prevent  the  re-eligibility  of  the 
present  delegates.  I  am  well  pleased  with  both  of  these 
events,  for  the  West  Indians  have  hitherto  run  into  every 
extreme  to  obtain  popularity,  that  thereby  they  might 
carry  their  favorite  measures,  and,  being  indifferent  about 
France,  have  contributed  much  to  the  mischiefs  which 
have  been  occasioned.  Sup  with  Madame  Foucault, 
where  there  is  a  large  party.  Bouinville,  who  is  here, 
looks  like  a  lover,  and  as  I  take  him  home  he  owns  that 
he  ivas  one,  but  he  was  not  happy.  I  tell  her  that  I  will 
endeavor  to  see  her  at  Spa.  This  delights  her,  less  from 
any  interest  in  what  concerns  me  than  from  the  sacrifice 
which  that  step  would  imply  to  her  charms." 

"According  to  my  appointment  go  [May   iyth]  at  one 


422  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

to  M.  de  Montmorin's,  and  meet  there  M.  Duport.  I  find 
that  M.  de  Montmorin  is,  or  seems,  much  disinclined  to 
engage  in  the  affair  of  the  rations.  He  doubts  much,  he 
says,  of  the  success,  and  says  the  King  has  great  repug 
nance  to  it.  He  had  told  me  before  that  he  was  well 
inclined  ;  this  seems  mysterious.  He  says  that  the  princi 
pal  fear  is  the  fear  of  discovery.  I  show  him  that  there 
is  no  danger  of  that  sort.  He  desires  to  meet  on  Saturday. 
I  tell  him  I  will,  but  that  I  cannot  promise  for  the  pa 
tience  of  the  parties  interested.  He  says  they  may  do  as 
they  please.  I  tell  him  that  the  thing  will  be  done  in 
spite  of  any  opposition  he  can  make.  It  is  in  itself  a  just 
claim.  This  is  a  strange,  undecided  creature.  Duport 
seems  to  be  better  disposed  toward  the  operation.  See 
M.  Bremond,  and  tell  him  that  the  affair  of  the  rations  is 
postponed  till  Saturday.  He  is  not  at  all  pleased.  Visit 
Madame  de  Segur,  where,  the  conversation  turning  on  the 
means  of  saving  property  from  the  confusions  now  appre 
hended,  I  mention  the  purchase  of  lands  in  America. 
The  Count  and  his  brother-in-law  incline  much  to  adopt 
this  measure.  Bremond  calls  again,  and  tells  me  he  has 
information  from  Muller,  the  confidant  of  the  Elector  of 
Mayence,  that  the  French  agents  act  as  if  they  did  not 
want  to  adjust  matters  with  the  German  Princes.  He 
says  that  if  the  Court  do  not  mean  to  settle  that  affair 
amicably,  he  supposes  they  will  not  adopt  the  affair  of  the 
rations.  He  is  right  in  this  conjecture,  but  I  reply  only 
by  repeating  what  I  had  already  said — that  the  affair  is 
extremely  delicate.  Madame  de  Chastellux's  servant 
comes  and  tells  me  that  she  goes  to-morrow  to  accompany 
her  son  to  the  Ville  d'Eu.  I  send  for  the  child,  and  write 
to  its  mother.  Sit  a  while  with  the  Baron  de  Besenval, 
who,  in  the  fervor  of  his  zeal  in  the  cause  of  despotism, 
tells  me  that  all  the  princes  of  Europe  are  allied  to  restore 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  423 

the  ancient  system  of  French  government.  This  idea  is 
ridiculous  enough,  but  yet  there  are  thousands  who  be 
lieve  it  and  who  are  not  fools  either  ;  but  it  is  the  lot  of 
man  to  be  forever  the  dupe  of  vain  hope  or  idle  appre 
hension.  We  are  too  apt  to  forget  the  past,  neglect  the 
present,  and  misconceive  the  future.  From  hence  go 
to  dine  with  Madame  de  Trudaine,  and  after  dinner  mon 
sieur  enters  into  a  dispute  with  St.  Andre  about  the  rights 
of  those  princes  who  owned  fiefs  in  Alsace.  Monsieur  is 
a  very  honest  man,  but  he  holds  a  very  dishonest  opinion, 
which  is  very  common  with  weak  men  in  regard  to  public 
affairs.  This  controversy  reduces  itself  to  one  point  of 
right  and  another  of  fact.  By  various  treaties  the  princes 
have  stipulated  that  the  fiefs  in  question  shall  be  held  as 
heretofore  by  the  German  Empire.  The  point  of  right, 
therefore,  is  whether  this  tenure  does  not  exempt  them 
from  the  general  decisions  of  the  French  nation  respecting 
that  species  of  property.  The  point  of  fact  is  whether 
the  chief  of  the  French  or  German  Empire  be,  by  those 
treaties — quoad  hoc — the  liege  lord.  This,  being  matter  of 
interpretation,  must  be  decided  by  publicists,  but  the  whole 
question  being  between  sovereign  nations,  it  is  probable 
that  the  decision  will  depend  on  everything  except  the 
real  merits. 

"Madame  de  Flahaut  is  denied  when  I  call,  but  I  find  it 
is  to  sleep.  She  tells  me  that  her  husband  is  gone  abroad. 
She  invented  that  to  be  alone,  in  order  to  receive  the 
Bishop  and  another  person  at  dinner,  and  was  denied  in 
consequence  of  her  general  orders  to  that  effect.  I  give 
her  a  hint  respecting  the  Bishop  at  which  she  is,  or  pre 
tends  to  be,  offended.  See  M.  de  Montmorin,  who  tells 
me,  as  I  expected  he  would,  that  the  King  will  not  agree 
to  the  affair  of  the  rations.  I  am  persuaded  that  there  is 
some  underwork  in  the  business.  Nous  verrons.  Montmorin 


424  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XIX. 

tells  me  that  he  considers  the  Assembly  as  finished,  and 
this  gives  me  a  very  mean  opinion  of  his  sagacity.  A  few 
days  ago  he  was  in  trepidation  and  now  in  a  kind  of  secu 
rity,  both  unfounded.  He  fears,  however,  yet  for  the  per 
son  of  the  King.  He  says  that  different  people  are  urging 
him  to  do  different  things,  but  that  he  sees  nothing  to  be 
done.  I  tell  him  to  remain  quiet,  for  the  Assembly  are 
now  doing  everything  they  can  for  the  King,  with  the  in 
tention  to  do  everything  they  can  against  him.  I  ask  him 
whereabouts  he  is  with  the  claims  of  the  German  princes. 
He  says  that  he  thinks  the  Emperor  will  become  the  in 
termediary.  He  savs  that  he  fears  the  Cornte  d'Artois  and 
the  Prince  of  Conde.  I  treat  this  lightly,  as  supposing 
they  will  only  act  in  favor  of  the  royal  authority,  but  he 
says  they  will  form  a  party  for  themselves,  by  which  I  un 
derstand  only  that  they  will  oblige  the  King  to  drive  away 
all  his  former  advisers.  Visit  Madame  de  Guibert,  who 
says  that  I  must  court  her  for  years  before  I  could  make  an 
impression.  I  laugh,  and  tell  her  that  a  few  days,  or  even 
six  weeks,  might  be  reasonable  enough,  but  the  price  she 
sets  is  really  too  high.  This  remark  furnishes  a  deal  of 
ridiculous  conversation.  M.  Bremond  calls  on  me.  I  tell 
him  that  the  affair  of  the  rations  is  abandoned,  at  which 
he  is  of  course  both  mortified  and  disappointed." 


I79I-J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  425 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A  visit  to  St.  Cloud.  Departure  for  England.  Visit  to  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans  at  Eu.  London.  The  escape  from  the  Tuileries  and  capt 
ure  at  Metz.  Morris  returns  to  France.  The  Assembly  intend  to 
cover  the  king's  flight.  Madame  de  Lafayette  greatly  excited.  Con 
versation  with  M.  de  Montmorin.  Dinner  with  the  Americans  in 
Paris  on  the  Fourth  of  July.  The  fete  of  Voltaire.  The  king's 
nature  discussed.  Decree  passed  declaring  the  inviolability  of  the 
king.  Lady  Sutherland's  drawing-room.  What  passed  in  the  Champ 
de  Mars.  The  mob  fired  on.  Society  frightened  and  within  doors. 
Letter  to  Robert  Morris.  The  king's  aunts  harangue  the  people  of 
Rome  on  the  king's  escape.  Morris  meets  Lord  Palmerston.  Pro 
nounces  the  .French  Constitution  ridiculous.  Consultation  between 
M.  de  Montmorin  and  Morris.  Morris  draws  up  a  memoir  e  for  the 
king.  Madame  de  Stae'l  and  the  Constitution.  Her  opinion  of  the 
memoire  Morris  had  prepared  for  the  king.  The  Constitution  pre 
sented  to  the  king. 


[May  22d]  on  M.  Grand,  and  walk  a  while 
in  his  garden  with  him  conversing  on  the  state 
of  public  affairs.  The  Kingdom  of  Poland  has  formed 
a  new  constitution  which  will,  I  think,  change  the  po 
litical  face  of  Europe,  by  drawing  that  kingdom  out  of 
anarchy  into  power.  The  leading  features  of  the  change 
are  :  An  hereditary  monarch,  the  enfranchisement  of  the 
peasants,  and  a  share  of  the  government  given  to  the 
towns.  These  are  the  great  means  of  destroying  perni 
cious  aristocracy.  After  dinner  go  with  Chaumont,  his 
wife,  his  mother,  and  sister  to  see  St.  Cloud.  The  situa 
tion  is  fine,  and  the  garden  would  be  delightful  if  laid  out 
in  the  style  of  nature,  but  it  is  a  perfectly  French  garden. 
The  view  from  hence  is  very  fine.  We  return  along  the 


426  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

Seine  to  the  Bridge  of  Neuilly,  and  thence  to  Paris.  Visit 
Madame  de  la  Luzerne.  M.  de  Meripoix  speaks  very 
harshly  of  Necker,  and  I  defend  that  ex-minister.  Go  to 
M.  de  Montmorin's,  and  announce  my  departure  for  Eng 
land.  Make  same  announcement  to  the  British  ambassa 
dor  and  ambassadress." 

"Write  all  this  [May  26th]  morning.  Mr.  Swan  calls,  and 
I  tell  him  my  surprise  at  hearing  that  I  am  considered  in 
America  as  speculating  in  the  debt  to  France.  He  assures 
me  that  he  has  never  said  or  done  anything  to  raise  such 
an  idea,  and  that  he  will  exert  himself  to  remove  it.  Dine 
with  the  British  ambassador,  and  after  dinner  we  go  to 
gether  to  visit  M.  de  Montmorin.  I  tell  him  that  the 
enrages  are  in  despair.  He  says  he  could  give  them  the 
coup  de  grace  if  he  pleased,  for  that  he  has  reason  to  believe 
they  are  in  pursuit  of  the  affair  of  the  rations.  I  tell  him 
that  I  do  not  know,  but  that  I  shall  know.  He  asks  me 
if  I  shall  be  back  from  London  during  the  month  of  June. 
I  tell  him  that  I  shall.  We  have  an  interrupted  conversa 
tion,  and  I  promise  to  dine  with  him  to-morrow." 

On  Sunday  (May  29th),  Morris  left  Paris  and  jour 
neyed  toward  London,  stopping  en  route  at  Eu,  to  visit  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans.  "  I  wait  upon  the  Duchess  this  morn 
ing,"  he  says,  "  and  breakfast  in  her  chamber,  with  Ma 
dame  de  Chastellux.  She  sends  to  her  father  to  announce 
my  arrival,  and  desire  of  visiting  him.  The  old  gentleman 
returns  a  very  polite  answer,  and  we  agree  that  I  shall  dine 
with  them.  I  find  there  is  much  restraint  and  etiquette 
here.  After  breakfast  she  reads  me  her  letters  to  and  from 
the  Duke,  and  then  we  walk  till  near  dinner-time.  She 
tells  me  the  history  of  their  breach  from  a  long  time  back, 
and  the  manoeuvres  used  by  him  and  those  about  him. 
He  is  a  mighty  strange  fellow.  She  tells  me  that  what 
the  world  attributed  to  fondness  in  her  was  merely  discre- 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  427 

tion.  She  hoped  to  bring  him  to  a  more  decent  and 
orderly  behavior,  but  finds  at  length  that  he  is  to  be  gov 
erned  by  fear  only.  She  tells  me  of  her  difficulties  in 
bringing  her  father  to  act.  He  is  nervous  and  trembles  at 
everything  like  exertion.  We  have  an  excellent  dinner, 
and  in  the  conversation  at  and  after  it  I  gain  a  little  upon 
the  old  gentleman's  good  opinion.  They  embark  after 
dinner  in  a  large  carriage  to  take  an  airing,  and  I  go  to 
my  hotel.  Having  nothing  to  do,  I  order  horses  and  get 
off  at  a  quarter  past  six  and  at  half-past  nine  I  reach 
Dieppe." 

A  dirty  vessel,  a  calm  sea,  a  scarcity  of  provisions,  and 
an  odd  assortment  of  fellow-passengers,  rendered  a  chan 
nel  passage  of  several  days  and  nights  anything  but  agree 
able  ;  but  this  uncomfortable  episode  finally  ended,  and 
Morris  soon  reached  London. 

"  The  Russian  dispute  is,  I  find,  very  unpopular,"  says 
the  diary  of  June  3d,  "  but  I  do  not  see  how  the  Minister 
is  to  get  out  of  the  scrape.  The  French  ambassador  tells 
me  that  the  ministry  of  this  country  will  go  on  arming 
and  threatening  till  the  season  for  action  is  past,  and  then 
disarm  in  part.  I  think  this  very  likely.  He  tells  me 
that  the  Assembly  have  determined  to  form  a  new  treaty 
of  commerce  with  the  United  States,  and  that  Ternant 
has  departed." 

"  We  hear  [June  25th]  that  the  King  and  Queen  of 
France  have  effected  their  escape  from  the  Tuileries  and 
have  got  six  or  seven  hours  the  start  of  their  keepers. 
This  will  produce  some  considerable  consequences.  If 
they  get  off  safe  a  war  is  inevitable,  and  if  retaken,  it  will 
probably  suspend  for  some  time  all  monarchical  govern 
ment  in  France.  I  dine  with  Dr.  Bancroft  where  is  Dr. 
Ingenhoup.  He  mentions  a  late  discovery  he  has  made 
respecting  the  inflammability  of  metals,  and  offers  to  show 


428  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

me  a  rod  of  iron  burning  like  a  candle.  It  is  only  neces 
sary  to  place  it  in  vital  air." 

In  a  letter  of  this  date  to  a  friend,  Morris  mentioned 
that  "  the  King  and  Queen  of  France  have  made  their  es 
cape,  but  we  do  not  yet  know  whether  they  are  out  of  the 
kingdom.  This  event  makes  me  very  anxious  to  get  back 
to  Paris,  for  I  think  the  confusion  will  work  favorably 
to  the  sale  of  American  lands. — Eleven  at  night  :  Intelli 
gence  is  received  that  the  royal  fugitives  are  intercepted 
near  Metz." 

On  receipt  of  this  news,  Morris  set  off  at  once  for 
Paris.  Crossing  the  channel,  he  says  :  "  I  find  Lord 
Sheffield  with  his  family  are  my  fellow-passengers,  with 
whom  I  make  acquaintance  ;  his  lordship,  who  supposes 
me  to  be  an  Englishman,  gives  free  scope  to  his  sentiment 
respecting  America,  as  all  other  countries.  Am  attentive 
to  his  family,  being  a  wife  and  two  daughters,  and  the  at 
tentions  are  well  received.  His  lordship  asked  my  house 
or  place  of  abode  in  London,  and  she  reminds  me  of  it 
when  I  go  to  pay  my  respects  to  her  ladyship  after  land 
ing.  I  promise  to  see  them  at  Paris.  Arrived  at  Paris 
[July  2(1],  I  employ  myself  reading  the  various  details 
which  relate  to  the  King's  flight  and  arrest.  Go  to  see 
M.  de  Lafayette,  who  is  not  come  in,  but  I  converse  with 
his  wife,  who  seems  to  be  half  wild.  I  visited  this  morn 
ing  the  Count  de  Segur  also,  and  saw  the  whole  family  ex 
cept  the  marechal.  The  intention  of  the  Assembly  is,  I 
find,  to  cover  up  the  King's  flight  and  cause  it  to  be  for 
gotten.  This  proves  to  me  great  feebleness  in  every 
respect,  and  will  perhaps  destroy  the  monarchy.  M.  Bre- 
mond  calls  and  communicates  what  has  been  done  re 
specting  the  debt  to  France.  He  tells  me  also  that  he 
has  had  an  interview  with  the  Comte  de  Montmorin  re 
specting  public  affairs,  and  desires  me  to  ask  his  interfer- 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  429 

ence  with  M.  Tarbet,  the  Minister  of  the  Impositions,  to 
give  .him  some  material  respecting  the  finances.  He  gives 
me  the  secret  history  of  many  things  that  have  taken 
place  during  my  absence.  Dine  with  Lafayette  ;  then 
go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's.  Apply  to  him  for  what  Bremond 
wanted,  and  he  promises  his  aid.  I  converse  with  him  on 
the  state  of  affairs,  observing  that  it  appears  to  me  almost 
impossible  to  preserve  both  the  monarchy  and  the  mon 
arch.  He  says  there  is  no  other  measure  can  be  at 
tempted,  and  this  leads  us  to  discuss  the  different  charac 
ters  who  may  be  appointed  either  Regent  or  to  a  Council 
of  Regency  ;  and  here  I  find  insurmountable  difficulties. 
Of  course  they  must  go  on  with  the  miserable  creature 
which  God  has  given.  His  wisdom  will  doubtless  produce 
good  by  ways  to  us  inscrutable,  and  on  that  we  must  repose." 
"  Madame  de  Flahaut  [July  4th]  cannot  keep  an  ap 
pointment  made  with  me  because  of  a  previous  engage 
ment  to  hear  the  Bishop  read  his  plan  of  education.  This 
suits  me  very  well.  I  dine  at  Mr.  Short's  with  the  Ameri 
cans  in  town,  and  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette.  Paine  is 
here,  inflated  to  the  eyes  and  big  with  a  letter  of  Revolu 
tions.  I  learn  this  day  that  about  sixty  of  the  aristocratic 
party  have  resigned,  and  this  under  a  declaration  wThich 
stipulates,  as  a  condition  of  their  future  agency,  those 
things  which  have  been  communicated  to  them  by  the 
Committee  of  the  Constitution  as  previously  determined 
on.  This  is  a  poor  trick,  and  the  measure  is  a  dangerous 
one.  The  weather  has  been  fine  this  day.  Vicq  d'Azyr 
says  that  the  Queen's  hair  is  turned  gray  by  her  late  ad 
ventures.  Paul  Jones  called  on  me  this  morning.  He  is 
much  vexed  at  the  democracy  of  this  country.  The  eva 
sion  of  the  King  and  Queen  has,  among  other  things,  pro 
duced  a  decree  against  emigration  which  damps  the  sale 
of  lands." 


430  DIARY    AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

"Take  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  Mademoiselle  Duplessis 
to  ride  to-day  [July  6th].  We  go  to  the  upper  end  of  the 
Isle  St.  Louis,  from  whence  there  is  a  beautiful  view  of 
the  Seine.  Then  we  go  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  and 
turn  up  till  we  get  to  the  boulevards  above  the  King's 
garden.  We  then  pursue  the  boulevards  round  to  the 
Invalides.  I  set  them  down  at  the  Louvre  and  return 
home  to  write.  The  weather  is  very  fine.  I  saw  this 
evening  a  part  of  Paris  which  I  had  never  seen  before. 
It  is  not  much  inhabited,  but  there  are  many  fine  gardens. 
Spend  the  evening  with  Madame  de  Laborde,  where  I 
see,  for  the  first  time,  the  declaration  signed  by  a  number 
of  members  of  the  Assembly,  declaring  their  adhesion  to 
the  cause  of  Royalty.  It  is  diffuse  and  weak  ;  they  might 
easily  be  caught  in  their  own  trap.  Bremond  tells  me  that 
Bergasse  has  prepared  his  work  on  the  French  Constitu 
tion,  which  will  be  shown  to  me,  and  he  proposes  some 
measures  in  relation  to  it  which  I  decline  a  concurrence 
in  till  I  shall  have  seen  the  object  they  mean  to  pursue. 
As  usual,  there  is  a  political  conversation  at  Madame  de 
Segur's  to-night,  and  I  find  that  the  opinions  are  getting 
round." 

"  Bremond  calls  this  morning  [July  nth],  and  desires 
me  to  go  to  see  Bergasse.  The  treatise  of  Bergasse  will 
be  short,  clear,  and  elegant.  I  think  it  will  have  great 
merit,  but  I  fear  the  public  mind  will  not  be  well  prepared 
for  it.  Call  on  Le  Coulteux.  He  is  gone  to  see  the  pro 
cession  of  Voltaire.  I  go  to  M.  Simolin's  for  the  same 
purpose.  It  is  so  late  that  we  return  to  the  Louvre  and 
eat  a  hasty  dinner,  after  which  we  go  again  to  Simolin's 
and  see  the  fete.  It  is  very  poor,  and  not  at  all  bettered 
by  the  rain.  Go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's.  He  is  shut  up 
with  company.  I  stay  a  good  while  with  the  ladies.  Short 
comes  in,  and  we  get  into  a  dispute.  He  insists  that  re- 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  431 

ligion  is  both  absurd  and  useless,  and  that  it  is  unfriendly 
to  morals.  I  hold  a  very  different  opinion.  Call  on  Ma 
dame  de  la  Suze,  and  condole  with  her  on  the  death  of  her 
friend  the  Baron  de  Besenval.  His  death  forms,  of  course, 
a  subject  of  conversation,  and  her  connection  with  him 
enters  as  a  thing  of  course  also.  She  is  much  afflicted.  It 
is,  according  to  Parisian  manners,  equivalent  to  the  loss  of 
a  husband  in  America." 

Always  on  hospitable  thoughts  intent,  Mr.  Morris  wrote 
to  apprise  Mr.  Constable  of  the  arrival  in  America  of 
Lord  Wycombe,  the  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne. 
"  Had  I  been  in  London,"  he  writes,  "  when  he  took  up 
his  resolution,  I  should  have  given  him  letters.  Let  this 
serve  in  lieu  of  it.  Show  him  all  kind  of  attention 
which  he  is  deserving  of.  He  may  perhaps  wish  to  see 
Morrisania,  in  which  case  you  will,  I  trust,  procure  him 
the  means  of  eating  a  mutton  chop  there.  Tell  him  that 
I  am  vexed  to  find  that  he  did  not  communicate  to  me  his 
determination.  .  .  .  My  friend  M.  Grand  being  de 
sirous  of  propagating  in  his  garden  the  white  Indian  corn, 
I  have  promised  him  some  for  seed.  Pray  direct  Gibson, 
my  overseer,  to  put  up  a  barrel  of  it,  in  the  husk,  and  with 
holes  in  the  barrel,  winter  it,  and  ship  it  to  Havre." 

"To-day  [July  i4th]  there  is  a  great  multitude  assem 
bled  in  the  Champ  de  Mars  when  I  go  there,  to  celebrate 
by  a  mass,  the  anniversary  of  the  capture  of  the  Bastille. 
In  the  Assembly  the  republican  party  have  treated  the 
King  very  harshly,  but  the  report  which  insists  on  his  in 
violability  will  pass.  M.  de  Trudaine  mentioned  as  having 
heard  from  young  Montmorin  that  the  King  is  by  nature 
cruel  and  base.  An  instance  of  his  cruelty,  among  others, 
was  that  he  used  to  spit  and  roast  live  cats.  In  riding  with 
Madame  de  Flahaut,  I  tell  her  that  I  could  not  believe  such 
things.  She  tells  me  that  when  you  ng  he  was  guilty  of  such 


432  DIARY    AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

things  ;  that  he  is  very  brutal  and  nasty,  which  she  attributes 
chiefly  to  a  bad  education.  His  brutality  once  led  him  so 
far,  while  Dauphin,  as  to  beat  his  wife,  for  which  he  was  ex 
iled  four  days  by  his  grandfather  Louis  XV.  Until  very 
lately  he  used  always  to  spit  in  his  hand,  as  being  more 
convenient.  It  is  no  wonder  that  such  a  beast  should  be 
dethroned." 

"  To-day  [July  i5th]  I  dine  at  M.  de  Montmorin's. 
Montesquiou  is  there,  who  asks  me  if  I  am  not  to  be  ap 
pointed  minister  here.  Tell  him,  no  ;  that  Mr.  Jefferson 
wishes  much  that  Mr.  Short  should  be  appointed,  etc.  He 
says  he  is  persuaded  that  he  could  bring  the  Treasury 
Board  into  any  reasonable  measures  respecting  the  debt 
from  the  United  States  to  France.  I  tell  him  that  dif- 
culties  would  now  arise  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

"  Paris  is  in  uproar  this  evening  on  account  of  the  de 
cree  passed  almost  unanimously  by  the  Assembly  declar 
ing  the  inviolability  of  the  King.  The  weather  has  been 
clear  and  very  warm.  There  is  a  great  disposition  for  riot 
among  the  people,  but  the  Garde  Nationale  are  drawn 
out  and  so  posted  as  to  prevent  mischief. 

"  As  I  lodge  near  the  Tuileries,  at  the  Hotel  du  Roi," 
wrote  Morris  to  a  friend  at  this  time,  "it  is  far  from 
impossible  that  I  shall  have  a  battle  under  my  windows. 
The  vanguard  of  the  populace  is  to  be  formed  by  two  or 
three  thousand  women.  A  good  smart  action  would,  I 
think,  be  useful  rather  than  pernicious,  but  the  great  evil 
rises  from  a  cause  not  easily  removed.  It  will,  I  think,  be 
scarcely  possible  to  confer  authority  on,  or,  in  other  words 
to  obtain  obedience  for,  a  man  who  has  entirely  forfeited 
the  public  opinion  ;  and  if  they  lay  him  aside,  I  do  not  see 
how  they  can  manage  a  regency.  His  brothers  are  abroad, 
and  so  is  the  Prince  of  Conde.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  is 
loaded  with  universal  contempt,  and  if  they  should  name 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  433 

a  council  of  regency,  they  would  be  obliged  to  take  either 
feeble  or  suspected  characters.  Add  to  this  the  strug 
gles  which  must  arise  in  a  State  where  there  is  a  king  de 
throned,  and  that  for  trivial  causes.  At  the  same  time, 
the  state  of  their  finances  is  detestable  and  growing  worse 
every  day." 

To-day  [July  i3th],  at  eleven,  I  go  to  breakfast  with 
Lady  Sutherland,  and  afterwards  attend  her  to  M.  Hou- 
don's  to  see  the  statue  of  General  Washington.  She  is  a 
charming  woman.  Call  on  Madame  de  Segur.  The 
count  is  in  bed,  ill  with  a  fluxion  on  his  jaw.  Puisignieu 
and  Berchini  are  here.  The  former  has  resigned,  but 
the  latter  holds  his  regiment  because  he  cannot  afford  to 
relinquish  it.  He  has  just  left  Count  d'Affri,  who  has 
received  orders  from  the  Swiss  Cantons  to  insist  on  spe 
cie  payment  to  the  troops  of  that  nation.  These  gentle 
men  declare  that  the  discipline  of  the  army  is  gone,  and 
that  is,  I  believe,  very  true. 

"  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  I  ride  to-day,  and  take  up,  first, 
Vicq  d'Azyr,  who  tells  us  that  M.  Petion,  one  of  the  three 
commissioners  despatched  by  the  Assembly  to  accompany 
the  King,  behaved  in  the  most  beastly  as  well  as  most  un 
kind  manner.  Sitting  in  the  carriage  with  the  royal  family 
he  permitted  himself  to  behave  in  the  most  unseemly  way, 
and  amused  himself  by  explaining  to  Madame  Elizabeth 
the  means  of  composing  a  council  of  regency.  I  received 
a  note  from  Madame  de  Montmorin  recommending  an 
unfortunate  Irish  gentleman.  I  gave  him  a  guinea,  and 
spoke  to  the  British  ambassador  to  send  his  children  to 
Dublin.  It  is  a  little  extraordinary  that  an  American 
rebel  should  be  instrumental  in  procuring  the  return,  at 
His  Majesty's  expense,  of  those  who  descend  from  Irish 
rebels.  But  such  are  the  vicissitudes  of  human  life." 

"  To-day  [July  ryth]  I  visit  the  British  ambassadress,  who 
29 


434  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

receives  me  with  a  charming  cordiality.  Colonel  Tarle- 
ton  and  Lord  Selkirk  are  here,  and  the  conversation  acci 
dentally  falls  on  American  affairs,  which  is  diverting,  as 
they  do  not  know  me.  Tarleton  says  that  once  on  the  out 
posts  he  obtained  a  list  of  General  Washington's  spies, 
and  that  Clinton,  after  putting  them  in  the  provost,  after 
a  few  days  let  them  all  out,  from  weakness  or  compassion. 
I  blame  this  weakness,  etc.  Go  from  hence  to  the  Louvre 
and  in  my  way  meet  the  municipality,  with  the  drapeau 
rouge  displayed.  At  the  Louvre  we  get  into  the  carriage 
of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  and,  stopping  to  take  my  telescope, 
go  to  Chaillot,  but  the  time  lost  there  in  taking  up  Ma 
dame  de  Courcelles  brings  us  too  late  on  the  heights  of 
Passy  to  see  what  passed  in  the  Champ  de  Mars.  On 
our  return,  however,  we  learn  that  the  militia  have  at 
length  fired  on  the  mob,  and  killed  a  few  of  them.  They 
scampered  aw^ay  as  fast  as  they  could.  This  morning, 
however,  they  massacred  two  men,  and  this  evening  they 
have,  it  is  said,  assassinated  two  of  the  militia  in  the 
street.  This  affair  will,  I  think,  lay  the  foundation  of 
tranquillity,  although  perhaps  a  more  serious  affair  is  nec 
essary  to  restrain  this  abominable  populace.  Go  to  Ma 
dame  de  Segur's  to  pass  the  evening.  Her  company  are 
still  frightened,  and  stay  away,  except  the  Chevalier  de 
Boufflers.  Segur  tells  us  what  passed  between  the  Queen 
and  him,  and  how  he  has  been  deceived  by  her.  He  de 
sires  me  to  dine  with  him  on  Thursday,  to  meet  the  Comte 
de  la  Marck  at  the  request  of  the  latter.  I  think  I  guess 
the  reason,  mats  nous  verrons.  I  think  one  of  the  finest 
views  I  ever  saw  was  that  which  presented  itself  this  even 
ing  from  the  Pont  Royal.  A  fine  moonshine,  a  dead  si 
lence,  and  the  river  descending  gently  through  the  various 
bridges,  between  lofty  houses,  all  illuminated  (for  the  sake 
of  the  police),  and  on  the  other  side  the  woods  and  distant 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  435 

hills.     Not  a  breath  of  air  stirring.     The  weather  has  this 
day  been  very  hot." 

There  had  been  a  general  summons  to  the  friends  of 
liberty,  requesting  them  to  meet  in  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
Morris  wrote  to  Robert  Morris  of  the  affair  of  Sunday 
the  iyth,  "  and  the  object  of  this  meeting  was  to  persuade 
the  Assembly,  by  the  gentle  influence  of  the  cord,  to  undo 
what  they  had  done  respecting  the  imprisoned  monarch. 
As  the  different  ministers  and  municipal  officers  had  re 
ceived  it  in  charge  from  the  Assembly  to  maintain  peace, 
and  see  to  the  execution  of  the  laws,  they  made  proclam 
ation  and  displayed  the  red  flag.  In  coming  from  the 
Dutch  ambassador's,  about  seven  in  the  evening,  I  met 
a  detachment  of  the  militia  with  the  red  flag  flying,  and 
some  of  the  civil  officers.  I  went  shortly  after  to  a 
height  to  see  the  battle,  but  it  wras  over  before  I  got  to 
the  ground,  for  the  militia  would  not,  as  usual,  ground 
their  arms  on  receiving  the  word  of  command  from  the 
mob.  This  last  began,  according  to  custom,  to  pelt  them 
with  stones.  It  was  hot  weather  and  it  was  a  Sunday 
afternoon,  for  which  time,  according  to  usage  immemor 
ial,  the  inhabitants  of  this  capital  have  generally  some 
pleasurable  engagement.  To  be  disappointed  in  their 
amusement,  to  be  paraded  through  the  streets  through 
a  scorching  sun,  and  then  stand,  like  holiday  turkeys,  to 
be  knocked  down  by  brickbats  was  a  little  more  than 
they  had  patience  to  bear ;  so  that,  without  waiting  for 
orders,  they  fired  and  killed  a  dozen  or  two  of  the  ragged 
regiment.  The  rest  ran  off  like  lusty  fellows.  If  the 
militia  had  waited  for  orders  they  might,  I  fancy,  have 
been  all  knocked  down  before  they  received  any.  As  it 
is,  the  business  went  off  pretty  easily.  Some  of  them  have 
since  been  assassinated,  but  two  men  were  lanterned  and 
mangled  in  the  Parisian  taste.  This  occasioned  some  little 


436  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

stir.  Lafayette  was  very  near  being  killed  in  the  morn 
ing,  but  the  pistol  snapped  at  his  breast.  The  assassin 
was  immediately  secured,  but  he  ordered  him  to  be  dis 
charged.  These  are  things  on  which  no  comment  is  nec 
essary.  I  think  we  shall  be  quiet  here  a  little  while,  but 
it  is  possible  enough  that,  seizing  some  plausible  occa 
sion,  a  violent  effort  will  be  made,  and  then,  if  the  militia 
succeed,  order  will  be  established.  You  will  have  heard, 
through  the  various  channels,  of  the  King's  escape  from 
the  Tuileries.  By  the  bye,  he  was  said  to  be  in  perfect 
liberty  there,  but  yet  our  friend  Lafayette  was  very  near 
being  hanged  because  he  got  away,  and  his  justification 
tends  to  show  that  His  Majesty,  besides  his  parole  given, 
was  so  closely  watched  that  he  had  but  little  chance  of 
getting  off  unobserved.  This  step  was  a  very  foolish  one. 
Public  affairs  were  in  such  a  situation  that  if  he  had  been 
quiet  he  would  have  soon  been  master,  because  the  an 
archy  which  prevails  would  have  shown  the  necessity  of 
conferring  with  authority,  and  because  it  is  not  possible 
so  to  balance  a  single  assembly  against  a  prince  but  that 
he  must  prove  too  heavy  for  the  other  or  too  light  for  the 
business.  The  Assembly  also,  very  strongly  suspected  of 
corrupt  practices,  was  falling  fast  in  the  public  estimation. 
His  departure  changed  everything,  and  now  the  general 
wish  seems  to  be  for  a  republic,  which  is  quite  in  the  nat 
ural  order  of  things.  Yesterday  the  Assembly  decreed 
that  the  King  being  inviolable,  he  could  not  be  involved 
in  the  accusations  to  be  made  against  those  concerned  in 
his  evasion.  This  has  excited  much  heat  against  them. 
The  people  are  now  assembling  on  the  occasion,  and  the 
militia  (many  of  them  opposed  to  the  king)  are  out. 
They  have  passed  a  law  against  emigrations,  although  by 
their  bill  of  rights  every  man  has  a  right  to  go  where  he 
pleases  ;  but  this,  you  know,  is  the  usual  fate  of  bills  of 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  437 

rights.     How  long  the  restriction  may  continue  is  uncer 
tain,  but  while  it  lasts  no  lands  can  be  sold  in  detail." 

"  Dine  to-day  [July  2ist]  with  the  Comte  de  Segur,  where 
I  meet  M.  de  la  Marck  and  M.  Pellin.  This  last  has,  I  find, 
nearly  the  same  ideas  of  a  government  that  I  have.  Walk 
with  Madame  de  Segur  after  dinner  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Palais  Bourbon.  She  asked  me  this  afternoon  (I  presume 
with  a  view  to  judge  for  her  husband)  whether,  if  the 
place  of  minister  was  proposed  to  me,  I  would  accept  it. 
I  told  her,  *  Yes,  if  they  would  give  me  authority.'  She 
asked  then  whether  I  would  take  the  chance  of  acquiring 
it  if  the  King  and  Queen  would  promise  to  act  according 
to  my  advice  ?  I  told  her  that  in  such  case  I  would  con 
sider.  Bremond  says  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  Camus* 
for  sundry  affairs,  and  desires  me  to  contrive  it.  He  and 
Pellin  are  to  dine  with  me  to-morrow.  Dine  with  Madame 
de  Flahaut.  We  go  to  the  opera  together :  '  CEdipe,' 
followed  by  the  ballet  '  Psyche.'  The  music  of  the  op 
era  is  excellent — by  far  the  best  I  ever  heard — and  upon 
pressing  this  idea,  they  tell  me  it  is  the  best  on  the  French 
theatre.  The  ballet  is  prodigiously  fine.  Madame  de  Fla 
haut  tells  me  that  she  wants  small  assignats  for  M.  Ber- 
trand,  and  that  she  will  gain  by  it.  I  of  course  promise 
my  assistance.  M.  de  Segur  told  me  to-day  that  he  wished 
me  to  fix  a  day  for  dining  with  the  Comte  de  Montmorin, 
in  order  to  converse  with  him  on  the  state  of  public  affairs. 
I  promise  to  do  so,  but  avoid  naming  the  day.  I  told 
Madame  de  Flahaut  that  I  had  always  known  how  to  ap 
preciate  the  conduct  of  her  friend  the  Bishop  respecting 

*  Camus,  one  of  the  deputies,  and  council  of  the  clergy,  represented  Jansen 
ism  under  all  its  aspects.  The  violence  and  strength  of  his  asceticism  were 
somewhat  softened  by  a  love  of  literature.  He  was  a  stoic,  and  owing  to  him 
more  than  to  anyone  else  was  passed  the  legislative  measures  through  which, 
under  the  name  of  the  Civil  Constitution  of  the  Clergy,  came  the  bouleverse- 
ment  of  the  clergy. 


438  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

me  ;  that  his  manner,  which  she  made  me  observe,  is  not 
therefore  surprising,  but  I  mention  it  to  her  now  because 
hereafter  it  may  become  necessary  to  remind  her  of  it. 
She  tells  me  that  M.  de  Montmorin  is  given  up  now  en 
tirely  to  Barnave  *  and  Lameth.f  This  I  am  not  at  all 
surprised  at.  Montesquieu  and  he  have  had  a  scene  une 
peu  vive  on  the  occasion." 

"This  morning  [July  28th  |  M.  Bremond  calls,  and  tells 
me  that  I  may  make  what  terms  I  please  in  order  to  have 
Camus.  Go  to  the  Louvre  before  M.  de  Montesquieu  comes, 
on  an  invitation  from  Madame  de  Flahaut,  to  whom  I  have 
promised  ioo,ooof.  if  the  business,  which  she  is  ignorant 
of,  succeeds.  I  communicate  to  Montesquieu  the  necessity 
of  having  Camus,  and  he  promises  to  try  him.  I  tell  him 
that  madame  is  ignorant  of  the  business.  He  asks  me  if 
I  have  mentioned  it  to  the  Bishop.  I  tell  him  that  he  has 
been  long  acquainted  with  it,  but  not  from  me  ;  that  I 
have  never  conversed  with  him,  neither  do  I  mean  to  do 
it,  on  that  subject.  I  speak  to  M.  Bremond  respecting  M. 
Camus,  and  the  promise  I  have  made.  Madame  de  Segur 
tells  me  that  Madame  Adelaide  has  been  haranguing  the 
people  of  Rome  on  the  subject  of  the  King's  escape,  about 
which  she  was  under  a  little  mistake,  having  been  in 
formed  that  he  was  at  Luxembourg.  Visit  Madame  du 
Bourg's,  where  there  is  a  table  of  rouge-et-noir.  Chat  with 
the  British  ambassadress,  and  play  for  trifles,  so  as  neither 

*  Antoine  Charles  Barnave,  member  of  the  States-General  in  1789,  and  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  club  called  "  The  Friends  of  the  Constitution."  He, 
with  one  other,  was  appointed  to  attend  the  king  in  his  compulsory  return 
from  Varennes.  He  afterward  became  a  defender  of  the  throne  and  Consti 
tution,  and  was  executed  in  1793. 

t  Alexandre  Lameth  was  one  of  the  deputies  of  the  Noblesse  who  united 
with  the  Third  Estate.  After  Mirabeau's  death  the  two,  Lameth  and  Bar- 
nave,  were  for  a  short  time  the  master-spirits  of  the  Assembly,  and  co-oper 
ated  with  Lafayette  in  the  effort  to  defend  the  Constitution  after  the  king's 
arrest  at  Varennes. 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  439 

to  gain  nor  lose.  Tell  Madame  de  Beaumont  that  Segur 
and  I  shall  dine  with  them  to-morrow,  and  that  I  want  to 
see  her  father  beforehand.  Tell  Madame  de  Segur  that  I 
will  not  meet  her  husband  there,  but  that  he  must  intro 
duce  the  conversation." 

"  Dine  [July  3oth]  with  M.  de  Montmorin.  Converse 
with  him  a  few  minutes  before  dinner,  to  prepare  him  for  a 
conversation  with  the  Comte  de  Segur,  who  is  to  meet  me 
here,  but  he  does  not  come.  M.  de  Montmorin  says  that 
he  has  recommended  Swan's  memorial  to  the  Minister  of 
the  Marine,  and  indorsed  thereon  that  recommendation  ; 
but  I  would  bet  that  he  never  has  read  the  memorial.  I 
call  on  the  British  ambassadress,  and  I  find  that  with 
attentions  I  should  gain  the  confidence  of  her  lord,  who 
has  more  abilities  than  people  in  general  suppose." 

"This  morning  [July  3ist],  send  to  M.  de  Montesquieu, 
who  calls  a  little  before  twelve.  Propose  to  him  opera 
tions  with  Camus,  and  offer  him  interest  therein.  He 
startles  at  the  idea  of  selling  his  vote,  but  I  observe  to  him 
that  it  is  only  disposing  of  that  of  M.  Camus.  He  tells 
me,  which  I  knew  before,  that  he  is  very  much  in  want  of 
money,  and  he  promises  to  operate  disinterestedly  with 
Camus  for  the  good  of  the  affair.  I  tell  him  that  I  intend 
to  secure  for  him  a  share  in  the  ration  business.  Dine 
with  M.  Grand,  and  as  we  all  find  the  weather  to  be  very 
hot,  he  places  a  thermometer  in  the  shade,  which  amounts 
to  28°  of  Reaumur,  or  89°  of  Fahrenheit.  This  is  pretty 
well.  At  Madame  de  Segur's  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  who 
is  here,  seems  desirous  of  being  well  with  me,  and  yet  of 
concealing  that  desire — a  sort  of  male  coquetry.  He  com 
municated,  I  find,  to  M.  de  Montmorin  our  dinner  at  M.  de 
Segur's.  Thus  there  seems  to  be  a  thread  of  design  run 
ning  through  the  whole  web.  Bre"mond  comes  and  tells 
me  that  Camus  has  been  softened  by  the  golden  tincture 


440  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

in  the  affair  of  Malta  ;  so  that  there  can  be  no  doubt  of 
him  in  other  things,  if  the  application  be  properly  made." 
"  To-day  [August  4th]  I  dine  with  the  British  ambassa 
dor.  As  I  arrive  too  early  and- find  pen,  ink,  and  paper  on 
the  table,  I  write  for  her  [the  ambassadress]  : 

'Tis  said  that  kings,  with  wild  ambition  fired, 
To  pow'rs  despotic  always  have  aspired, 
Like  untam'd  coursers,  whose  indignant  soul 
Spurns  at  restraint  and  scorns  all  weak  control. 
Hence  British  Senators,  with  patriot  skill, 
Have  strove  to  check  and  curb  the  monarch's  will ; 
But  Gallic  statesmen  take  a  wiser  course, 
And  make  the  bridle  stronger  than  the  horse. 

Lord  Palmerston  dines  here,  who  is  a  very  pleasant  com 
panion.  Go  to  Madame  de  Montmorin's,  and  find  there 
the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  whose  countenance  shows  still,  I 
think,  the  desire  of  further  acquaintance.  I  observe  that 
he  and  M.  de  Montmorin  take  different  routes  to  meet  in 
the  cabinet  of  the  latter.  I  see  the  Comte  de  Berchini.  He 
receives  a  complaint  from  the  militia  camp  in  the  plain  of 
Grenelle,  who  find  the  ground  too  hard  and  rough  to  sleep 
upon.  This  is  quite  in  character.  He  gives  a  description 
of  this  corps,  which  resembles,  I  find,  any  other  corps  of 
militia,  with  the  single  difference  that  the  individuals  here 
differ  essentially  from  each  other  in  point  of  fortune,  and 
have  in  general  the  most  profligate  manners." 

"Yesterday  [August  6th]  Bremond  brought  me  the 
French  Constitution  to  read.  Short  asks  my  opinion  of  it. 
I  tell  him  it  is  a  ridiculous  one.  Dine  with  M.  de  Mont 
morin,  and  converse  with  him  on  affairs.  He  has  a  pretty 
just  opinion  both  of  himself  and  others.  He  repeats  what 
has  passed  this  morning  with  the  King  ;  the  recital  of  the 
tale  brings  tears  both  in  his  eyes  and  mine.  Poor  man,  he 
considers  himself  as  gone,  and  whatever  is  now  done  must 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  441 

be  for  his  son.  Go  out  to  Auteuil  to  see  Madame  Helve- 
tius.  A  raving  mad  democracy  forms  the  society.  The 
Constitution  forms  now  the  general  subject  of  conversa 
tion,  in  which  I  take  the  least  possible  part." 

"Call  on  the  Marquis  de  Montesquieu  [August  yth] 
and  converse  with  him  on  business.  He  tells  me  that  a 
bribe  has  been  offered  to  Amelot,*  who  has  communi 
cated  the  matter  to  the  committee;  that  it  was  for  the 
affair  of  the  rations  ;  that  Camus  opened  on  the  subject, 
and  it  was  decided  to  call  a  meeting  with  the  Diplomatic 
Committee  for  Tuesday.  This  morning  Bremond  brings 
with  him  Pellin,  and,  as  he  is  to  be  one  of  our  council,  I 
show  him  the  observations  I  am  making  as  far  as  I  have 
gone.  He  seems  desirous  that  they  should  be  speedily 
completed,  in  order  that  such  as  circumstances  will  permit 
may  be  adopted.  Sup  with  the  British  ambassadress, 
where  I  meet  Lord  Fitzgerald.  Fie  is  just  returned  from 
America,  having  made  a  long  tour  through  the  interior 
part  of  it.  He  is  a  pleasant,  sensible  young  man.  Our 
party,  which  has  only  the  addition  of  his  brother  and  Lord 
Gower,  is  one  of  the  most  pleasant  I  ever  remember.  M. 
Jaubert  calls  with  the  small  part  which  he  has  translated 
of  my  work,  f  and  it  employs  a  long  time  to  correct  it  and 
bring  it  up  to  the  force  of  the  original.  I  call  on  M.  de 
Montmorin  and,  in  consequence  of  what  Bremond  told 
me  this  morning,  mention  the  rations.  He  says  that  affair 

*  Sebastien  Michel  Amelot,  Bishop  of  Vannes,  came  of  an  ancient  family 
who  had  given  a  great  many  magistrates  to  the  Parlement  of  Paris.  He  was 
Ministre  de  la  Maison  du  Roi  under  Louis  XVI.,  refused  to  take  the  civil 
oath,  and  many  of  the  clergy  in  his  diocese  followed  his  example.  The  domi 
nant  party,  near  the  end  of  1790,  foreseeing  that,  if  Amelot  were  allowed  tore- 
side  exclusively  in  his  diocese,  it  would  be  difficult  to  introduce  the  new  order 
of  things,  raised  suspicions  against  him  which  exposed  his  life  to  the  greatest 
peril,  and  ordered  him  before  the  Constituent  Assembly.  When  that  Assem 
bly  terminated  its  session,  he  went  to  Switzerland.  He  died  in  1829  at  Paris. 

t  A  plan  of  a  discourse  for  the  king,  which  Morris  drew  up,  hoping  to  in 
fluence  him  in  the  acceptance  of  the  Constitution. 


442  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

is  ruined  in  the  committee,  which  is  directly  the  contrary 
of  what  Bremond  told  me.  I  find  that  Montmorin  begins 
to  be  much  mounted  against  the  Constitution.  Madame 
de  Flahaut  is  extremely  distressed  at  the  Bishop's  coldness 
on  the  score  of  her  interests.  I  tell  her  that  I  am  not  at 
all  surprised  at  it,  and  our  conversation  leads  me  to  give 
her  his  true  character. 

"  It  is  diverting  to  hear  some  people  complain  that  the 
republican  party  are  getting  the  upper  hand  in  the  Assem 
bly.  It  would  seem  as  if  their  opponents,  the  makers  of 
the  Constitution,  were  a  monarchic  party." 

"  Dine  [August  i6th]  with  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  who 
tells  me  that  our  meeting  at  M.  de  Montmorin's,  intended 
for  to-morrow,  is  postponed  till  Friday,  at  which  time 
Pellin  will  have  prepared  a  plan  also.  The  Constitution 
they  tell  me  has  been  this  day  adopted.  The  Prince  de 
Poix,  whom  I  meet,  talks  aristocratically  in  the  most 
pointed  manner,  and  though  a  weak  man,  yet,  as  Dr. 
Franklin  says,  '  Straws  and  feathers  show  which  way  the 
wind  blows.'  " 

"As  usual  [August  i8th]  M.  Bremond  calls,  and  I  make 
further  corrections  in  tables  of  finance,  the  effect  of 
which  will  be  considerable,  I  think.  When  I  call  on  M. 
de  Montmorin,  he  imprudently  quits  a  circle  of  ambas 
sadors  to  come  to  me  and  mention  to-morrow  as  the  day  of 
meeting.  He  says  he  has  desired  Pellin  to  collect  all  the 
popular  traits  of  the  King's  conduct  since  he  came  to  the 
throne,  and  put  them  into  his  speech.  This  is  very  wrong, 
and  I  hint  as  much  to  him,  but  a  foolish  vanity  will 
doubtless  prevail  on  the  subject.  After  dinner  we  consider 
the  report  of  M.  de  Beaumetz  on  the  manner  of  presenting 
the  Constitution  to  the  King.  I  wish  them  to  take  up  the 
great  question  of  His  Majesty's  conduct,  but  in  vain.  I 
find  that  feeble  measures  will  most  probably  be  adopted." 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  443 

"  M.  Bremond  and  I  to-day  [August  20th]  go  into  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  question,  'What  kind  of  connection  with 
her  colonies  is  suited  to  France,  and  what  intercourse  can 
she  allow  them  with  foreigners,  particularly  the  United 
States?'  As  we  agree  in  opinion  on  this  subject,  we  next 
proceed  to  the  ways  and  means  of  effecting  our  object, 
and  fix  on  a  plan  of  operation  in  this  respect  which  will 
probably  succeed.  He  is  to  prepare  a  memoire,  which  he 
is  to  show  me,  and  in  the  meantime  to  procure  a  reso 
lution  referring  generally  to  the  colonial,  agricultural, 
commercial,  and  fiscal  committees  to  report  on  the  powers 
and  authorities  to  be  given  to  the  commissioners  who  go 
out  to  Santo  Domingo.  These  are  to  be  induced  to  report 
generally  on  authority  to  consult  with  the  colonial  assem 
blies  and  adjust  a  plan  of  union,  connection, and  commer 
cial  regulation  with  them,  to  serve  as  a  basis  for  future 
determination.  And  then  these  commissioners  are  to  do 
the  rest.  After  fixing  this  plan  I  converse  with  him  on 
matters  of  private  interest,  and  as  he  relishes  them,  he  will 
of  course  work  hard  to  accomplish  the  object.  He  has 
some  notes  of  reflections  on  the  state  of  the  finances  which 
he  says  will  frighten  M.  de  Montmorin  into  the  adoption 
of  my  measures.  I  show  him  that  these  reflections  would 
indeed  frighten  him,  if  just,  but  it  would  be  to  a  purpose 
directly  contrary  to  what  I  wish.  The  British  ambassador 
and  Prussian  minister  tell  me  that  a  convention  was 
signed  between  the  Empress  of  Russia  and  the  Grand 
Turk  on  the  26th  of  last  month,  upon  the  exact  terms 
which  she  had  always  insisted  on.  Bergasse  corrects 
what  I  had  written  this  morning.  He  says  he  will  write  to 
the  King  to-morrow  on  the  state  of  affairs,  and  tell  him  that, 
having  obtained  the  communication  of  my  plan  in  order 
to  correct  the  language,  he  communicates  it  to  His  Majesty, 
but  under  the  strictest  injunction  of  secrecy.  Go  with  M. 


444  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

Bremond  to  M.  de  Montmorin's,  and  meet  there  M.  de  la 
Marck.  We  examine  Breinond's  tables  and  afterwards  I 
give  M.  de  Montmorin  my  ideas  on  some  part  of  this  busi 
ness,  and  at  the  same  time  reproach  him  for  not  having 
made  me  previously  acquainted  with  the  opinions  of  M. 
de  Beaumetz.*  M.  Bremond  requests  me  to  take  part  in 
a  speculation  in  the  funds,  which  I  decline,  on  the  princi 
ple  that  this  gambling,  ruinous  to  some  and  dangerous  to 
all,  becomes  unfair  when  a  knowledge  of  facts  enables  an 
individual  to  bet  with  a  certainty  of  gain.  Dress  and  go 
to  the  Louvre.  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  she  is  con 
vinced  the  King  will  soon  commit  another  folly,  and  gives 
me  the  reasons.  Visit  Madame  de  Stae'l,  who  receives  me 
well.  She  is  getting  over  the  illusion  she  was  under 
about  the  Constitution.  Go  from  hence  to  Madame  de 
Guibert's,  where  I  spend  the  evening.  The  amusement  is 
Colin  Maillard,  or  blind  Buck  and  Davy,  or  blind  man's 
buff." 

"  The  Comte  de  Segur  tells  me  [August  25th]  that  one 
reason  why  he  went  into  the  country  is  that  he  expected 
to  be  called  on  to  advise  the  King,  and  then  he  tells  me 
the  advice  he  would  have  given.  I  think  he  is  mistaken 
in  his  motive,  for  he  has  at  different  times  shown  a  strong 
disposition  to  be  councillor.  Make  an  early  dinner  with 
Madame  de  Flahaut,  and  go  to  the  Academy.  Nothing 
very  extraordinary,  but  I  observe  that  among  the  audi 
tors  there  is  more  of  religion  than  I  expected.  This  is 
a  good  sign.  Return  to  the  apartments  of  Madame  de 
Flahaut,  who  brings  with  her  the  Abbe  Delille,  who  recites 
to  us  some  charming  verses.  Go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's, 


*  Chevalier  de  Beaumetz,  a  French  jurist  and  member  of  the  Constitu 
ent  Assembly.  He  wrote  a  valuable  work  on  the  "  Penal  Code  of  the  Jury 
men  of  the  Chief  National  Court,  1792."  To  escape  the  Reign  of  Terror 
he  emigrated  in  1792. 


Of   THE 

VEBSITY 


1791.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  44;{4\A. 

and  tell  him  that  I  have  some  reason  to  apprehend  that 
the  King  means  to  make  another  coup  de  theatre.  He 
says  he  thinks  not.  We  then  discuss  pretty  fully  what  he 
is  to  do,  and  find  that  he  is  getting  a  little  up  towards  the 
right  point.  He  expresses  much  anxiety  about  a  minister 
of  the  finances.  I  tell  him  that  whenever  there  is  suffi 
cient  authority  I  will  give  him  a  plan  for  the  finances. 
Return  home  early,  having  paid  a  visit  on  my  way  to  La- 
borde.  He  is  very  melancholy  about  the  King's  situation. 
I  tell  him  that  there  is  no  danger,  and  point  out  in  general 
the  conduct  which  His  Majesty  ought  to  pursue.  He  begs 
me  to  give  it  to  him  in  writing.  This  I  decline,  for  the 
present.  He  says  that  the  King  understands  English  well, 
and  that  he  will  be  perfectly  secret,  of  which  I  may  be 
certain,  as  he  has  been  so  many  years  a  valet  de  chambre 
to  Louis  the  Fifteenth." 

"  I  am  bidden  to  dinner  [August  26th]  by  Madame  de 
Stael.  She  requests  me  to  show  her  the  memoire  I  have 
prepared  for  the  King.  I  am  surprised  at  this,  and  insist 
on  knowing  how  she  became  acquainted  with  it.  She 
tells  me  pretty  nearly.  I  read  it  for  her  and  the  Abbe 
Louis,  through  whom  she  gained  her  intelligence,  and 
they  are,  as  I  expected,  very  averse  to  so  bold  a  tone.  I 
am  well  persuaded  that  a  poor  conduct  will  be  adopted. 
The  British  ambassadress  comes  in  during  our  lecture, 
which  interrupted  it  to  me  very  agreeably.  Arrive  late  at 
M.  de  Montmorin's,  and  we  retire  into  his  closet  and  I  read 
to  him  the  plan  I  have  prepared  of  a  discourse  for  the 
King.  He  is  startled  at  it  ;  says  it  is  too  forcible  ;  that  the 
temper  of  the  people  will  not  bear  it.  We  have  much 
discourse  on  this  subject.  I  leave  the  thing  with  him.  We 
are  to  confer  further  on  it,  and  he  is  to  show  it  to  the  King 
on  Monday.  I  give  him  leave  (which  otherwise  he  would 
have  taken)  to  show  it  to  his  daughter.  I  know  that  she 


446  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

will  encourage  such  a  step,  having  previously  mounted 
her  imagination  to  that  point.  I  go  to  the  Louvre,  having 
so  promised.  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  that  the 
Bishop  has  spoken  to  her  of  my  work,  Madame  de  Stael 
having  told  him  that  I  had  showed  it  to  her.  She  finds  it 
very  weak.  Madame  de  Flahaut  told  the  Bishop  that  this 
is  false,  for  that,  on  the  contrary,  Madame  de  Stael  feared 
only  from  its  being  too  strong.  A  good  deal  of  this  sort 
of  chit-chat.  I  expected  that  conduct  from  Madame  de 
Stael,  and  am  not  therefore  surprised.  Go  to  sup  with 
the  British  ambassadress.  She  and  her  husband  are  sitting 
together.  We  have  some  agreeable  conversation  before 
the  arrival  of  Madame  de  Coigny.  We  have  some  little 
compliments  together,  Madame  de  Coigny  and  I,  and  I 
think  it  possible  we  may  be  friends,  but  this  depends  on 
the  chapter  of  accidents,  for  she  must  be  at  the  trouble  of 
bringing  it  about." 

"  Madame  de  Beaumont  [August  2pth]  tells  me  that 
Madame  de  Stael  has  told  her  father  that  she  has  seen 
my  work.  She  is  a  devilish  woman,  but  I  tell  Madame  de 
Beaumont  the  whole  story.  It  is  clear  that  M.  de  Mont- 
morin  cannot  and  will  not  make  use  of  my  draft.  Go  to 
Madame  de  StaeTs.  She  is  at  her  toilette  yet.  I  am  dis 
appointed  here  in  the  expectation  of  meeting  Lady  Suth 
erland.  The  conversation  is  dull.  I  have  not  an  oppor 
tunity  of  saying  to  Madame  de  Stael  what  I  intended,  for 
she  seems  a  little  conscience-struck  and  avoids  me,  but  I 
tell  the  Abbe  Louis  that  I  renounce  all  interference  in  the 
business  and  shall  desire  that  my  plan  may  not  be  fol 
lowed.  Bremond  wishes  me  to  get  him  appointed  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  the  treasury.  Give  M.  de  Mont- 
morin  a  mtmoire  of  the  present  state  of  things.  He  tells 
me  that  Madame  de  Stael  once  took  him  in  as  she  did  me, 
and  that  her  father  told  him  it  was  a  common  trick  with 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  447 

her  to  pretend  to  know  in  order  to  learn.     I  tell  him  that 
I  have  caused  her  to  believe  that  I  have  given  up  the  idea 
entirely,  and  desire   him  to   speak   of  it   lightly,  as  of  a 
thing  I  had  abandoned.     He  says  that  it  is  now  in  the 
King's  possession,  who  found  the  discourse  prepared  for 
him  difficult  to  swallow,  because  it  acknowledges  the  loss 
of  the  crown  ;  but  he  replied  to  this  that  it  was  only  de 
fective  because  he  had  not  the  command  of  150,000  men." 
"The  Comte  de  Montmorin  telJs  me  [September  2d]  that 
the  peace  between  Russia  and  the  Porte  is  concluded,  and 
that  he  is  well  informed  that  different  bodies  of  troops  are 
now  on  their  march,  so  that,  the   Emperor  and  King  of 
Prussia  being  in  a  good  understanding  together,  it  seems 
probable  that  something  will   be  attempted  against  this 
country.     I  tell  him  that,  if  this  be  so,  it  appears  to  me  the 
more  necessary  to  make  the  King  declare  at  least  the  out 
lines  of  the  Constitution  he  desires.     He  says   the   Emi 
grants  will  hear  of  nothing  but  the  ancient  system.     If 
this  be  insisted  on  we   shall,  I   think,  have  warm    work. 
Visit  at  the  British  ambassador's.     Converse  a  little  here 
with  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  who  either  is,  or  pretends  to 
be,  of  my  opinion   respecting  the   Constitution  and  the 
conduct  to  be  pursued  by  the  King  in  that  regard.     Ma 
dame  de  Stael,  who  is  here,  is  in  violent  disputation  with 
the  Abbe  de  Montesquiou,*  and  the  Bishop  d'Autun  is  in 
part  the  subject,  to  the  great  edification  of  M.  de   Nar- 
bonne,   who  is  just  arrived  from  Italy.     Montesquiou  at 
supper  gives   a   picture  of  the  finances  of  this  country 
which  is  very  like  the  original  and  which,  of  course,  is  not 
handsome.      The    Constitution    has    been   presented   this 

*  Fezensac  de  Montesquiou,  a  French  ecclesiastic  deputy  from  the  clergy 
to  the  States-General  in  1789,  was  twice  elected  President  of  the  National 
Assembly.  He  fled  to  England  during  the  Terror,  but  after  the  second  res 
toration  returned  to  France,  and  received  the  title  of  duke. 


448  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

evening  to  the  King,  who  has  promised  to  return  an 
answer  speedily.  Go  to  the  British  ambassador's,  and 
stay  a  while  at  the  hazard  table,  in  the  joys  and  sorrows 
of  which  I  do  not  participate.  Go  to  Madame  de  StaeTs. 
Ask  the  Abbe  Louis  what  news  there  is.  He  says  (I  think 
with  a  view  to  pumping)  that  the  King's  discourse  will 
consist  partly  of  mine  and  partly  of  other  material.  I 
tell  him  there  will  be  nothing  of  mine  in  it,  and  I  really 
believe  so.  I  tell  him  further  that  I  give  up  all  idea  of 
directing  his  conduct  on  the  present  occasion,  and  so  I 
do.  I  follow  Lady  Sutherland  and  Madame  de  Coigny 
out,  and  Mr.  Short  follows  me.  Lady  Sutherland,  in  get 
ting  into  the  carriage,  urges  me  to  come  more  frequently 
to  see  them,  and  expects  me  to  dine  on  Sunday,  and  send 
in  the  morning  to  ask  for  dinner.  She  takes  no  notice  of 
Mr.  Short,  who  stands  next  to  me,  and,  in  turning  round 
to  speak  to  him  after  she  is  gone,  I  find  his  counte 
nance  discomposed  and  his  voice  broken.  Thus  he  will 
go  home  with  ill-will  rankling  in  his  heart  against  me, 
because  he  is  not  taken  notice  of.  This  is  hard,  but  this 
is  human  nature.  He  is  charge  d'affaires,  and  I  am  only  a 
private  gentleman.  He  therefore  expects  from  all,  and 
especially  from  the  corps  diplomatique,  a  marked  prefer 
ence  and  respect.  I  wish  him  to  receive  it,  but  that  is 
impossible  in  this  quarter  for  the  present." 

"To-day  [September  yth]  I  dine  with  M.  de  Montmorin, 
where  Madame  de  Stae'l  and  her  cortege  also  dine.  I  find 
that  she  and  the  Bishop  d'Autun  press  him  very  hard  on 
some  subject  or  another.  See  Mr.  Short,  whose  counte 
nance  is  not  yet  cleared  up.  Sup  with  the  Comte  de  la 
Marck,  who  tells  me  that  the  object  of  Madame  de  Stael 
and  her  Bishop  was  to  obtain  a  revocation  of  the  decree 
which  excludes  him  and  others  from  the  ministry,  and 
thereby  reduces  him  to  the  rank  of  a  tres petit  intrigant. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  449 

We  have  here  the  Archbishops  of  Aix  and  Lyons,  that  is, 
ci-devant  Archbishops,  and  we  have  Madame  d'Ossun,  one 
of  the  Queen's  dames  d'atonrs.  The  Archbishop  of  Aix  tells 
me  that  he  is  engaged  in  drawing  up  a  protest  against  the 
Constitution  on  the  part  of  the  nobles  and  clergy,  the 
former  of  which  desire  to  object  against  the  natural 
equality  of  mankind  because  Kings  are  of  divine  appoint 
ment,  but  the  latter  object  to  it.  I  suggest  to  him  that  it 
might  be  proper  to  render  this  protest  subordinate  to  the 
King's  speech,  but  he  thinks  differently.  Madame  d'Os 
sun  is  so  attentive  that  I  think  a  good  impression  is  made 
in  my  favor.  I  went  to  the  Salon  to-day  to  see  the  ex 
hibition  of  painting  and  statuary  not  yet  opened  to  the 
public,  but  which  the  Bishop  d'Autun,  charged  with  this 
business  by  the  municipality,  admits  strangers  to  see. 
There  are  some  very  good  pieces. 

"The  Comte  de  la  Marck,  whom  I  saw  at  the  British 
ambassador's,  tells  me  that  the  King's  observations  will 
be  made  to-morrow  or  next  day.  He  seems  a  little  cool 
and  shy  on  this  subject.  This  morning  Bremond  calls, 
and  tells  me  that  the  King  objected  to  the  speech  pre 
pared  for  him  by  Pellin  in  consequence  of  a  m^moire  he 
had  received  in  English.  Mr.  Short  tells  me  that  on  Friday 
last  in  council,  M.  de  Montmorin  produced  observations 
written  by  Pellin,  but  the  King  preferred  mine,  and  on 
this  he  felicitated  me.  I  lead  him  off  the  scent,  but  he 
tells  me  that  he  is  informed  of  this  in  such  a  manner  as 
admits  of  no  doubt,  and  also  that  M.  de  Montmorin  is 
vexed  at  the  preference.  He  said  that  he  was  asked  by 
what  channel  I  could  get  at  the  King,  and  that  he  said  if 
I  had  done  anything  of  the  sort  it  must  be  through  M. 
de  Montmorin." 

"  To-day  [September  8th]  the  King  goes  to  the  Assem 
bly  and  accepts  in  form  the  Constitution.  I  call  at  the 
29 


4SO  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XX. 

Louvre.  Dine  with  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  where  we  dis 
cuss  the  declaration  (about  to  be  made  public)  of  the  Em 
peror  and  King  of  Prussia.  Learn  at  the  Louvre  the  pur 
port  of  the  King's  letter,  which  is  meagre  enough.  It 
would  seem  that  intrigue  has  at  length  succeeded,  and 
caused  the  poor  monarch  to  adopt  a  middle  party,  which 
is  good  for  nothing.  Go  to  the  opera,  which  is  execra 
ble,  but  the  ballet  of  'Telemaque'  compensates  for  that 
ennui." 


I79i.j  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  45 1 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

Convinced  that  Montmorin  withheld  the  m'emoire  until  the  king  had  ac 
cepted  the  Constitution.  Lady  Hamilton.  Festival  of  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution.  The  opera.  The  king  and  queen  received  with 
applause.  Paris  illuminated.  Letter  to  Washington  on  the  king  and 
the  Constitution.  A  coalition  dinner  with  Madame  de  Stae'l.  The 
current  of  opinion  against  dropping  the  king's  titles,  Sire  and  Ma- 
jeste.  A  reaction  in  favor  of  the  king.  Supper  at  Madame  de 
Guibert's.  Long  conversation  with  Montmorin,  who  says  he  can  trust 
no  one  but  Morris.  M.  de  Moustier  attests  Morris's  favor  with  their 
majesties.  What  passed  between  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Em 
peror  at  Pilnitz.  The  Duke  of  Orleans  declares  his  bankruptcy. 
Much  struggling  for  offices  in  Paris.  Moustier  thinks  Morris  mis 
taken  about  the  Constitution.  M.  de  Montmorin  declares  war 
against  the  newspapers. 

U  OEE  M.  de  Montmorin  to-day  [September  i6th]  and 
*-^  ask  him  for  the  different  papers  I  have  given  him. 
Fie  tells  me  that  the  last  is  in  the  King's  hands,  being  in 
tended  to  regulate  his  future  conduct.  On  inquiry  I  find 
that  he  did  not  deliver  it  till  after  His  Majesty  had  ac 
cepted  the  Constitution.  This  is  wrong,  but  it  is  too  late 
to  do  any  good  by  saying  so.  The  first  paper,  being  a  dis 
course  intended  for  the  King,  he  says  the  King  has  re 
turned  ;  but  as  I  gave  it  to  him  he  wishes  to  keep  it.  I 
ask  him  what  became  of  Pellin's  work.  He  says  that  was 
only  a  memoir e.  I  tell  him  what  Short  told  me  ;  he  says 
that  it  is  a  fabricated  story,  but  from  what  he  afterwards 
tells  me  I  find  that  Short's  account  and  Bremond's  are  dif 
ferent  editions  of  the  same  thing,  and  I  am  now  pretty 
well  persuaded  that  the  poor  King  has  been  prevented  by 


452  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

an  intrigue,  in  which  M.  de  Montmorin  is  a  party,  from 
acting  as  he  ought.  I  ask  him  if  it  is  true  that  they  are 
like  to  suffer  for  want  of  corn.  He  says  there  would  be 
enough  if  there  were  authority  sufficient  to  cause  an  equal 
distribution.  I  hint  to  him  the  advantage  of  providing  a 
quantity  of  flour  to  distribute  gratis  to  the  poor  of  this 
city  in  a  moment  of  distress,  and  point  out  both  the  means 
and  the  consequences.  Desire  him  to  think  of  this,  and  be 
secret." 

"  Bremond  complains  to  me  [September  i;th]  that  he 
cannot  get  Montesquiou's  accounts,  and  suspects  that  the 
publication  of  them  is  stopped.  He  tells  me  that  the 
King  has  had  for  some  days  the  manifesto  of  the  princes. 
Qu.  :  de  hoc.  After  dinner  go  to  the  British  ambassador's, 
where  I  see  Lady  Hamilton,*  a  very  extraordinary  woman 
of  the  town  who  went  to  Italy  in  keeping,  and  here  be 
came  so  much  the  passion  of  Sir  William  Hamilton  that 
he  has  married  her.  She  is  a  fine  creature  to  appear 
ance." 

"This  morning  [September  i8th]  is  introduced  by  peals 
of  artillery.  It  is  a  high  festival  on  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution.  As  no  carriages  can  move,  I  walk  out  at 
one  and  go  to  the  Palais  Royal  ;  thence  to  the  Louvre. 
Stay  and  dine  with  Madame  de  Flahaut.  Return  home 
and,  having  deposited  my  watch,  purse,  and  pocket-book, 
walk  through  the  Rue  St.  Honore  to  the  Champs  Elysees, 
thence  to  the  Tuileries.  The  illumination  of  the  Chateau 
and  avenue  is  superb.  Having  had  enough  of  the  crowd 
ing  and  squeezing  and  walking,  I  return  home.  The 

*  Sir  William  and  Lady  Hamilton  were  returning  to  Naples  from  London, 
where  he  had,  early  in  the  summer  of  1791,  privately  married  the  fair  Emma. 
Sir  William,  having  found  that  even  at  the  Court  of  Naples  it  was  not  suffi 
cient  to  have  made  Emma  his  wife  in  a  private  manner,  had  in  the  spring  of 
this  year  hastened  to  London  with  her  to  rectify  the  mistake,  and  have  her 
acknowledged  by  the  English  sovereign. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  453 

weather  is  grown  cool  and  threatens  rain.  While  at  the 
Louvre  a  balloon,  let  off  in  the  Champ  de  Mars,  passed 
over  our  heads." 

"  Madame  de  Montmorin  and  her  daughter  and  Mrs. 
Villars,  together  with  Mr.  Villars  and  Mr.  Franklin,  break 
fast  with  me  [September  i9th].  M.  de  Montmorin  comes 
in  and  gives  me  the  memoire  I  had  written  for  the  King. 
He  shows  me  at  the  same  time  a  note  in  which  he  desires 
a  translation  of  it.  I  ask  him  if  he  has  thought  of  the  af 
fair  of  the  flour  ;  he  says  that  he  has  not.  As  I  proposed 
that  we  should  have  some  further  conversation  about  it, 
he  wishes  me  to  make  a  small  note  on  the  subject,  to  be 
delivered  together  with  the  memoire.  I  promise  to  do  so. 
Go  to  the  Louvre  and  read  my  memoire  to  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut,  telling  her  that  she  is  to  assist  me  in  the  translation 
in  order  that,  at  a  future  day,  I  may  let  the  King  know 
that  she  is  in  his  secret.  Promise  to  speak  to  M.  de 
Montmorin  on  her  subject.  Visit  at  the  British  ambassa 
dor's.  The  Prussian  minister  asks  me  whether  I  was  one 
of  the  men  who  advised  the  King's  letter.  I  tell  him,  no, 
and  tell  him  further  what  I  would  have  written.  The 
British  ambassador  is  present,  and  tells  me  he  did  not  be 
lieve  the  story.  Gouvernay  afterwards  speaks  to  me  on 
the  subject,  and  says  that  he  defended  me  against  that  im 
putation.  I  tell  him  in  general  terms  what  I  would  have 
done  and  add  that  if,  at  last,  it  should  become  necessary, 
from  the  despair  of  doing  good  through  the  means  of  the 
King  to  apply  to  the  princes,  I  have  thought  of  him  as 
the  proper  person  to  be  employed  therein.  Lady  Hamil 
ton  sings,  and  acts  in  singing,  with  a  degree  of  perfection 
which  I  never  yet  beheld.  She  is  truly  a  most  charming 
woman,  but  she  has  a  little  the  air  of  her  former  profes 
sion.  Lady  Anne  Lindsay,  who  is  here,  reminds  me  that 
we  met  at  the  Duchess  of  Gordon's.  At  five,  go  to  the 


454  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

opera,  'Castor  and  Pollux.'  The  King  and  Queen  are 
here  ;  they  are  received  with  vast  applause,  and  the  par 
terre  prohibit  all  applause  except  to  them.  See  M.  de 
Montmorin,  who  tells  me  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  take 
measures  respecting  subsistence  for  a  sum  greater  than 
what  may  be  furnished  by  the  civil  list.  We  are  to  con 
verse  further  about  this.  I  go  to  the  Louvre,  and  thence 
to  the  Fontenelles',*  where  there  is  much  company  and 
play.  I  read  here  the  letter  to  the  King  from  his  broth 
ers,  which  is  well  written." 

"  Bremond  tells  me  [September  2ist]  that  St.  Foi,  Ray- 
neval,  etc.,  have  set  on  foot  an  intrigue  to  detach  the 
Emperor  from  the  King  of  Prussia,  by  the  means  of  M. 
de  Metternich,  and  that  all  the  original  pieces  have  been 
communicated  to  him.  He  also  tells  me  that  Duport 
begins  to  gain  an  ascendency  over  the  King  and  Queen. 
Call  at  the  Louvre  at  five,  and  desire  Madame  de  Flahaut 
to  assist  me  by  correcting  my  translation  to-morrow  morn 
ing.  She  is  engaged  ;  and  as  this  is  a  very  paltry  engage 
ment,  which  nevertheless  is  to  be  kept,  I  testify  in  a  short 
manner  my  dissatisfaction.  Speak  to  M.  de  Montmorin 
about  the  flour  business.  He  is  grown  cold  on  the  scent. 
His  difficulties  may  be  real,  but  I  grow  tired  of  a  man  who 
has  always  difficulties.  He  tells  me  that  the  King  is  ur 
gent  for  my  translation,  which  he  (Montmorin)  supposes 
is  in  order  to  communicate  it  to  the  Queen.  Talk  with 
the  Prince  de  Poix  about  lands.  Sup  with  the  Comte  de 
la  Marck.  Rien  de  manquant  here." 


*  Fontenelle,  the  friend  of  Madame  Necker  and  Madame  de  Geoffrin,  early 
gave  promise  of  a  fine  intellect,  and  wrote  with  a  rare  purity  of  expression 
and  with  delicate  analysis.  Madame  de  Geoffrin  says  of  him  that  he  was 
never  angry,  he  never  interrupted  anyone,  and  always  listened  in  preference 
to  speaking.  Said  Madame  Geoffrin  to  him  one  day:  "  M.  de  Fontenelle, 
vous  n'avez  jamais  ri. "  ''  Non,  repondit-il,  je  ne  1'ai  jamais  fait."  Fontenelle 
was  the  nephew  of  Corneille,  and  was  born  at  Rouen. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  455 

"Send  this  morning  [September  22d]  for  Bergasse  to 
come  and  correct  my  translation.  Tell  him  what  to  write 
in  consequence,  and  at  three,  having  finished  the  copy  of 
my  work,  I  go  to  the  Louvre  and  submit  it  to  the  perusal 
of  Madame  de  Flahaut,  consequent  on  which  I  make  one 
or  two  corrections  ;  refuse,  however,  to  soften  one  part 
which  is  very  strong.  Dine  at  M.  de  Montmorin's,  and 
after  dinner  give  him  the  translation  as  he  goes  out  to  the 
Council,  having  first  mentioned  to  him  that  the  strong 
traits  are,  I  fear,  dangerous  just  now,  as  His  Majesty  has 
accepted  the  Constitution  in  a  different  manner  from  what 
I  expected.  He  tells  me  that  there  is  no  such  danger. 
He  promises  to  return  me  my  discourse.  Go  hence  to 
Madame  de  Laborde's,  and  spend  the  evening.  Speak  to 
Laborde  and  set  him  to  work  to  give  me  the  facts  respect 
ing  the  King's  acceptance,  and  promise  to  give  him  a 
letter  for  the  King.  Speak  also  to  Duport  respecting  a 
purchase  of  flour  for  Paris." 

"Go  [September  24th]  to  see  M.  de  Montmorin.  Give 
him  a  letter  on  the  flour  plan,  and  ask  for  my  discourse, 
which  he  will  not  yet  give.  I  think  he  means  to  copy  it, 
but  is  so  lazy  that  it  will  not  be  completed  in  a  long  time. 
Return  to  the  Louvre,  where  I  pass  the  evening.  The 
Bishop  d'Autun,  who  is  here,  me  fait  sacour,  from  whence  I 
conjecture  that  he  has  learned,  from  some  quarter  or  other, 
que  je  me  suis  un  peu  vantJ.  We  shall  see.  I  receive  his  ad 
vances  ni  mat  ni  bien.  He  tells  me  that  the  consideration  of 
his  report  is  postponed  till  the  next  legislature.  He  is  sore 
under  this.  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me,  some  time  after, 
that  she  is  much  hurt  at  this  circumstance.  Call  on  La 
borde  and  give  him  a  letter  for  the  King,  which  he  prom 
ises  to  deliver  immediately." 

"To-day  [September  25th]  I  dine  at  the  Louvre.  In  the 
evening  we  walk  out  to  see  the  illuminations,  which  are 


DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

splendid  ;  that  is,  the  Chateau  and  Gardens  of  the  Tuile- 
ries,  Place  Louis  Quinze,  and  Champs  Elysees.  M.  Wind- 
ham,  who  is  with  us,  seems  attentive  to  Mademoiselle 
Duplessis,  but  I  think  he  is  too  young  and  too  old  to  be 
taken  in." 

"  At  the  Louvre  [September  28th]  we  have  a  deal  of 
English  company  :  Lord  Holland,  Lady  Anne  Lindsay, 
etc.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  tells  .me  that  Moustier  is  ap 
pointed,  and  asks  if  I  am  ///  with  him.  I  answer,  toler 
ably  well,  which  leads  to  a  discussion  in  order  to  know 
the  ground.  I  see  that  he  is  forming  designs  on  him. 
Probably  it  is  Moustier's  appointment  which  brought 
the  Bishop  d'Autun  forward  towards  me.  He  tells  me 
that  Montmorin  communicated  it  on  Thursday  last. 
Going  home  I  take  the  Chevalier  de  Luxembourg  with 
me,  and  en  route  he  tells  me  how  far  he  was  in  the  af 
fairs  of  Favras.  It  seems  that,  when  it  began  to  take  wind 
a  little,  Mirabeau  and  others  endeavored  to  make  him  the 
catspaw,  that,  in  case  of  need,  he  might  be  converted  into 
the  scape-goat.  I  sup  with  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  who  is 
shortly  to  leave  town.  I  ask  him  whether  he  intends  for 
Germany  and  as  far  as  Vienna.  He  says  that  he  does.  He 
says  that  he  means  to  go  to  his  terres,  and  spend  some  time 
in  hunting  and  in  meditating  on  what  he  has  seen  for  the 
last  three  years.  He  does  not  incline  to  buy  American 
lands.  The  British  ambassadress  is  here  and  complains  a 
little  of  neglect,  which  I  assure  her  arises  from  business. 
This  is  true,  but,  besides,  I  think  she  is  a  little  pre'occupee 
just  now." 

"The  King  goes  this  day,  in  about  an  hour  hence,  to  close, 
or  rather  to  bid  farewell  to  the  session  of  the  National  As 
sembly,"  Morris  wrote  to  Washington  on  Thursday,  Sep 
tember  3oth.  "  You  will  have  seen  that  he  has  accepted 
the  new  Constitution,  and  been  in  consequence  liberated 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  457 

from  his  arrest.  It  is  a  general  and  almost  universal  con 
viction  that  this  Constitution  is  inexecutable  ;  the  makers 
to  a  man  condemn  it.  Judge  what  must  be  the  opinion  of 
others.  The  King's  present  business  is  to  make  himself 
popular,  and,  indeed,  his  life  and  crown  depend  upon  it ;  for 
the  Constitution  is  such  that  he  must  soon  be  more  or  less 
than  he  is  at  present,  and,  fortunately,  he  begins  to  think 
so,  but,  unfortunately,  his  advisers  have  neither  the  sense 
nor  spirit  which  the  occasion  calls  for.  The  new  Assem 
bly,  as  far  as  can  at  present  be  determined,  is  deeply  im 
bued  with  republican,  or  rather  democratical  principles. 
The  southern  part  of  the  kingdom  is  in  the  same  disposi 
tion  ;  the  northern  is  ecclesiastical  in  its  temper ;  the  east 
ern  is  attached  to  Germany,  and  would  gladly  be  reunited 
to  the  empire  ;  Normandy  is  aristocratical,  and  so  is  part  of 
Brittany  ;  the  interior  part  of  the  kingdom  is  monarchical. 
This  map  is  (you  may  rely  on  it)  just,  for  it  is  the  result 
of  great  and  expensive  investigation  made  by  Govern 
ment,  and  I  think  you  will  be  able,  by  the  help  of  it  and 
of  the  few  observations  which  precede  it,  fully  to  under 
stand  many  things  which  would  not  otherwise  perhaps  be 
so  easily  unriddled.  You  doubtless  recollect  that  the  now 
expiring  Assembly  was  convened  to  arrange  the  finances, 
and  you  will  perhaps  be  surprised  to  learn  that,  after  con 
suming  church  property  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred 
millions  sterling,  they  leave  this  department  much  worse 
than  they  found  it,  and  the  chance  now  is  (in  my  opinion) 
rather  for  than  against  a  bankruptcy.  The  aristocrats,  who 
are  gone  and  going  in  great  numbers  to  join  the  refugee 
princes,  believe  sincerely  in  a  coalition  of  the  powers  of 
Europe  to  reinstate  their  sovereign  in  his  ancient  author 
ities,  but  I  believe  that  they  are  very  much  mistaken. 
Nothing  of  consequence  can  be  attempted  this  year,  and 
many  things  may  happen  before  the  month  of  June  next, 


458  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

were  the  several  potentates  in  earnest.  I  am  led  to  im 
agine  that  their  views  are  very  different  from  those  which 
are  now  assigned  to  them,  and  it  is  very  far  from  impossi 
ble  that  the  attempt  (if  any)  will,  so  far  as  France  is  con 
cerned,  be  confined  to  a  dismemberment.  The  weak  side 
of  the  kingdom,  as  matters  now  stand,  is  Flanders,  but 
were  the  Provinces  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  French  Flanders, 
and  Artois  rent  away,  the  capital  would  be  constantly  ex 
posed  to  the  visits  of  an  enemy.  These  provinces  were,  as 
you  know,  acquired  by  an  immense  expense  of  blood  and 
treasure,  and  if  Louis  XIV.  could  have  succeeded  in  mak 
ing  the  Rhine  his  boundary  from  Switzerland  to  the  ocean, 
he  would  have  obtained  the  advantages  almost  of  an  insular 
position.  Indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  abstain  from  the  wish 
that  the  countries  included  within  that  boundary  were 
united  under  a  free  and  efficient  government,  since  it 
would,  in  all  human  probability,  be  the  means  of  dispens 
ing  the  blessings  of  freedom  in  no  distant  period  to  all 
Europe.  But  on  this  subject  it  is  now  permitted  to  a 
rational  being  to  form  rather  wishes  than  hopes,  much 
less  expectations.  I  will  enclose  herein  a  note,  just  re 
ceived,  of  the  latest  intelligence  from  Coblentz  ;  it  is 
written  by  the  Prince  de  Conde  to  his  confidential  friend 
here,  and  is  accompanied  by  the  request  that  all  French 
gentlemen  capable  of  actual  service  will  immediately  re 
pair  to  the  standard  of  royalty — beyond  the  Rhine — or, 
rather,  on  the  banks  of  that  river.  To  the  troops  men 
tioned  in  this  note  are  added,  by  the  counter-revolution 
ists  here,  15,000  Hessians  and  16,000  French  refugees ; 
so  that,  exclusively  of  what  the  Emperor  may  bring  for 
ward,  they  muster  an  army,  on  paper,  of  100,000  men.  The 
Emperor  has  about  50,000  in  the  Low  Countries.  But  all 
these  appearances,  and  the  proposed  Congress  of  Ambas 
sadors  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  do  not  in  the  least  change  my 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  459 

opinion  that  nothing  serious  will  be  attempted  this  year 
of  our  Lord. 

"  M.  de  Montmorin  has  resigned,  and  the  Comte  de 
Moustier  is  named  as  his  successor,  but  whether  he  will 
accept  seems  to  be  very  doubtful.  He  is  now  at  Berlin, 
and  as  he  is  an  intimate  of  M.  de  Calonne,  who  is  one 
main-spring  of  the  counter-revolution,  he  is,  I  presume,  in 
the  secret  of  what  may  be  really  in  agitation.  This  on 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  an  office  the  power  and  author 
ity  of  which  is  just  nothing  at  all ;  for  you  will  observe 
that  by  the  new  Constitution  every  treaty  and  convention 
whatsoever  must  be  submitted  to  the  investigation  of  the 
Assembly,  to  be  by  them  accepted  or  rejected.  You  will 
have  seen  what  has  been  done  here  respecting  the  colo 
nies.  Their  commerce,  which  involves  their  existence,  is 
left  to  the  mercy  of  the  Assembly,  which  will  not  be  over- 
attentive  to  their  interests  when  they  fall  into  competi 
tion  with  those  of  the  mother  country.  I  send  out  to  Mr. 
Morris  a  bundle  of  pamphlets  written  by  M.  de  Comere, 
according  to  hints  and  observations  which  I  furnished  to 
him.  Mr.  Morris  will  give  you  one,  and  you  will  see  that 
it  was  calculated  to  produce  a  liberal  system  of  colonial 
government,  beneficial  to  them  and  to  us.  In  order  to 
bring  it  about,  it  was  proposed  that  commissioners  should 
be  sent  out  with  full  powers  to  treat  with  the  colonial  as 
semblies  ;  and,  could  that  have  been  carried,  this  pamph 
let  would  have  been  the  groundwork  of  the  instruc 
tions  to  the  commissioners.  The  proposition  was  re 
jected.  I  do  expect  that  at  length  this  government  must 
come  into  some  such  measure  and  a  useful  treaty  be 
established  between  France  and  the  United  States,  and  a 
road  laid  open  for  solid  connection  with  Great  Britain.  In 
all  cases  we  have  the  consolation  that,  if  the  powers  of  Eu 
rope,  by  their  excluding  principles,  deprive  us  of  the  need- 


460  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

ful  vent  for  our  produce,  which  becomes  daily  more  and 
more  abundant,  we  shall,  from  the  cheapness  of  living  and 
of  raw  materials  which  result  from  that  circumstance,  make 
great  and  rapid  progress  in  useful  manufactures.  This  alone 
is  wanting  to  complete  our  independence  ;  we  shall  then 
be  a  world  by  ourselves,  and  far  from  the  jars  and  wars  of 
Europe.  Their  various  revolutions  will  serve  merely  to 
instruct  and  amuse,  like  the  roaring  of  a  tempestuous  sea, 
which  at  a  certain  distance  becomes  a  pleasing  sound." 

Speaking  of  Lafayette's  position,  in  a  letter  to  Robert 
Morris  at  this  time,  Morris  says:  "You  will  see  in  this 
appointment  of  Moustier,  that  our  friend  Lafayette  has 
no  kind  oi  influence.  He  is  about  to  retire  into  Au- 
vergne,  to  spend  the  winter  on  his  estates.  The  King  and 
Queen  detest  him,  and  the  nobles  hold  him  in  contempt 
and  abhorrence,  so  that  his  sun  seems  to  be  set,  unless  he 
should  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  republican  party, 
who  at  present  are  much  opposed  to  him.  All  this  results 
from  feebleness  of  character  and  the  spirit  of  intrigue 
which  bring  forward  the  courtier,  but  ruin  the  statesman. 
I  am  very  sorry  for  him,  because  I  believe  he  meant  well." 

"I  dine  to-day  [October  ist]  with  M.  de  Montmorin. 
After  dinner  ask  him  again  for  my  discourse  ;  he  promises, 
on  his  honor,  to  give  it  to  me.  I  desire  him  to  give  the 
King  my  letter  about  subsistence  ;  that  I  care  nothing  for 
the  event,  but  it  is  his  duty  to  lay  the  matter  before  His 
Majesty.  I  ask  him  who  made  the  King's  speech,*  which 
was  excellent.  He  assures  me  that  the  groundwork  is  by 
the  King  himself.  I  desire  him  to  make  the  King  observe 
the  difference  of  effect  between  this  and  those  long  stories 
which  they  made  him  tell  heretofore.  He  says  that  he 
has  already  done  so.  At  the  Louvre  I  meet  Short.  The 
Bishop  d'Autun,  who  comes  in,  takes  him  aside  and  holds 
*  On  accepting  the  Constitution. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  461 

a  long  conference,  which  I  conjecture  relates  to  the  debt 
from  America  to  France,  which  the  pious  bishop  wishes 
to  make  something  out  of.  Visit  Madame  de  Stae'l,  who 
has  a  motley  company,  which,  she  says,  have  partaken  of  a 
coalition  dinner.  There  is  Beaumetz,  the  Bishop  d'Autun, 
Alexandre  Lameth,  the  Prince  de  Broglie,  etc.  Malouet 
comes  in,  and  al-so  the  Comte  de  la  Marck,  who  converses 
with  madame.  I  observe  in  particular,  as  to  the  others 
who  dine  with  her,  their  coalition  seems  natural  enough. 
Segur  is  here,  who  tells  me  he  has  asked  for  the  ambassade 
de  Londres,  and  is  told  that  it  will  meet  with  no  difficulty, 
but  must  be  left  to  the  successor  of  M.  de  Montmorin. 
Visit  Lafayette,  who  receives  me  very  coldly.  I  am  not 
surprised  at  this." 

"Sup  at  the  Comte  de  la  Marck's  [October  5th].  He 
assures  me  that  he  is  concerned  in  no  party  or  coalition 
of  parties  ;  that  he  despises  every  man  almost,  in  the  coun 
try,  and  means  to  enter  the  service  of  some  foreign  prince. 
The  Bishop  d'Autun  sups  here  and  I  cannot  help  thinking 
there  is  some  mystery  in  all  this,  but  what  I  think  I  can 
perceive  clearly  is  that  he  is  much  disappointed  in  his 
expectations.  The  members  of  the  late  Assembly  are  all 
high-toned  in  their  reprehension  of  this  day's  work  of 
their  successors,  which  is  too  little  respectful  towards  the 
King.  Are  they  indignant  that  any  others  should  exceed 
them  in  marks  of  indignity  ?" 

"The  National  Assembly,  which  had  yesterday  deter 
mined  not  to  address  the  King  by  the  title  sire  or  votre 
majesty  and  to  place  Him  on  a  level  with  their  president, 
etc.,  have  this  day  [October  6th]  rescinded  all  those  reso 
lutions,  as  they  find  the  current  of  opinion  in  Paris  to  be 
against  such  measures.  I  find  that  the  Comte  de  Mont 
morin  has  not  yet  presented  to  the  King  my  letter  on  sub 
sistence.  This  is  ill  done,  and  I  think  he  will  live  to  re- 


462  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

pent  it.  At  Madame  de  StaeTs  there  is  rien  de  marquant, 
except  that,  from  the  manner  in  which  she  mentions  the 
King's  speech,  I  am  led  to  believe  that  it  is  not  written 
by  his  particular  friends.  Madame  de  Laborde  asks  me 
what  the  Queen  is  to  do  to  become  more  popular.  I  tell 
her,  after  considering  a  little,  that  she  must  write  a  letter 
to  the  Emperor,  and  contrive  to  have  it  intercepted,  etc. 
This  is  an  excellent  little  stroke  if  well  executed,  but 
otherwise  it  is  wretched." 

In  his  letters  to  friends  in  America  Morris  generally  en 
tered  more  fully  into  the  details  of  events  than  he  did  in  his 
diary,  though  the  latter  seems  to  bring  the  reader  more  en 
rapport  with  the  incessant  movement  and  agitation  of  Paris. 
A  few  days  after  (October  10)  the  National  Assembly  had 
revoked  their  determination  to  abolish  the  title  of  Sire, 
by  which  the  king  had  heretofore  been  addressed,  Morris 
wrote  to  Robert  Morris  commenting  on  the  sudden  acces 
sion  of  affection  for  the  king  among  the  masses  :  "  The 
people  of  this  city  are  become  wonderfully  fond  of  the 
King  and  have  a  thorough  contempt  for  the  Assembly, 
who  are  in  general  what  used  to  be  called  at  Philadelphia 
the  blue-stockings.  There  is,  however,  this  difference  be 
tween  the  two  capitals,  that  with  you  virtuous  poverty 
is  respected  but  here  splendor  is  indispensable.  Judge 
the  consequence.  And,  to  enlighten  that  judgment, 
know  that  at  this  moment  they  stand  on  the  brink  of 
bankruptcy,  which  can  only  be  avoided  by  increasing  the 
vigor  of  the  executive  magistrate.  This  becomes  daily  more 
and  more  apparent,  and  Paris  exists",  as  it  were,  on  the  in 
terest  of  the  national  debt.  These  facts  will  enable  you  to 
understand  why  the  other  evening,  at  the  Italian  Comedy, 
as  it  is  called,  the  parterre  or  people  cried  out  continually  : 
'Vivele  Roi,  Vive  la  Reine,  Vive  la  famille  royale,  Sire, 
Vive  votre  Majeste.'  These  words  sire  and  majest/were, 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  4^3 

you  know,  proscribed  by  the  Assembly,  which  was  obliged, 
by  a  stong  expression  of  the  popular  sentiment,  to  retract 
that  decree  the  very  next  day.  A  patriot  in  the  midst  of 
this  acclamation  took  it  into  his  head  to  cry  'Vive  la  Na 
tion,'  but  the  rest  silenced  him  immediately.  Now,  my 
dear  friend,  this  is  the  very  same  people  which,  when  the 
King  was  brought  back  from  his  excursion,  whipped  a 
democratical  duchess  of  my  acquaintance  because  they 
heard  only  the  last  part  of  what  she  said,  which  was  :  '  II 
ne  faut  pas  dire,  "  Vive  le  Roi."  '  She  had  the  good  sense 
to  desire  the  gentleman  who  was  with  her  to  leave  her. 
Whipping*  is,  you  know,  an  operation  which  a  lady  would 
rather  undergo  among  strangers  than  before  her  acquain 
tance.  The  provinces  are  not  as  yet  in  the  same  disposi 
tion  with  the  capital.  I  must  speak  of  M.  de  Favras,  who 
was  hanged  very  unjustly.  I  believe  it  to  be  true  and,  in 
deed,  almost  certain,  that  he  was  concerned  in  a  plan  with 
the  88,  604,  211,  490,  to  sustain  the  Revolution,  yet  there 
was  no  existent  law  to  render  this  criminal,  jinuch  less 
capital — and  the  crime  was  never  duly  proved  (supposing 
it  to  be  a  crime).  M.  de  Lafayette,  who  followed  the  busi 
ness  from  the  beginning,  and  was  eventually  the  prime 
cause  of  the  catastrophe,  invariably  meant  well  in  it,  but 

*  The  whipping  of  women  in  Paris  was  not  always  according  to  law,  and 
flagellation  never  occupied  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  penal  code  of  France  ; 
but  the  rod  had  always  flourished  with  vigor  in  domestic  life  and  in  schools. 
When,  however,  Paris  was  in  the  hands  of  the  tricoteuses,  and  savage  outlaws 
ruled  in  the  streets  ;  and,  again,  when  thejeunesse  doree  had  the  upper  hand, 
flagellation  was  not  forgotten.  Nuns  were  waylaid  in  the  streets  and  shame 
fully  beaten  by  the  tricoteuses,  and  young  girls  were  publicly  whipped  by 
the  delicate  libertines  of  the  jeunesse  doree.  An  old  book,  called  "The 
Chateau  at  Tours,"  graphically  describes  a  kind  of  romantic  whipping  club 
which  existed  in  Paris  shortly  before  the  "  Terror,"  composed  exclusively  of 
ladies  of  rank  and  fashion.  After  a  trial,  the  lady  who  was  found  guilty  of 
some  misdemeanor  was  disrobed  and  birched  by  her  companions.  Ladies  of 
rank  had  long  used  the  birch  as  a  means  of  settling  their  personal  quarrels, 
and  a  slight,  or  &jeu  d' esprit  at  the  expense  of  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
the  court,  was  not  infrequently  revenged  by  whipping. 


464  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

at  last  was  rather  overthrown  by  the  popular  torrent  of  the 
moment.  His  enemies  now  number  it  among  what  they 
call  his  crimes.  Apropos  of  M.  de  Lafayette  :  He  went  to 
Auvergne,  I  am  told,  the  day  before  yesterday,  and  this 
morning  I  am  told  that  it  is  in  contemplation  to  choose 
him  for  Mayor  of  Paris." 

"  I  tell  M.  de  Montmorin  after  dinner  to-day  [October 
i4th]  that  the  republicans  mean  to  begin  their  attack  by 
the  civil  list,  and  suggest  to  him  the  means  of  preventing 
it.  He  says  nothing  can  be  done  for  supplying  provi 
sions  to  Paris.  I  tell  him  that  I  am  very  glad  not  to 
be  charged  with  that  business  ;  that  mischiefs  will  arise 
of  which  neither  he  nor  I  will  have  anything  to  accuse  our 
selves,  as  we  have  done  all  in  our  power.  I  think  he  has  not. 
I  send  in  a  blank  cover  5oof.  to  Mademoiselle  Duplessis, 
with  precautions  of  every  kind  to  prevent  discovery  ;  her 
pension  is  stopped,  and  she  knows  not  what  to  do.  Poor 
girl,  she  spends  her  days  and  nights  in  tears.  Spend  the 
evening  at  Madame  de  Guibert's.  After  supper  I  am  un 
peu  aimable,  and  as  I  come  away  have  a  curious  conver 
sation  with  Lady  Anne  Lindsay,  who  is  desperately  in 
love  with  Mr.  Windham  and  tortured  by  jealousy.  I 
tell  her  that  if  she  wishes  to  bring  back  a  lover  she  must 
alarm  his  fears,  and  if  she  chooses  to  make  use  of  me,  I 
am  at  her  orders.  Tell  her  how  she  ought  to  act,  and  she 
says  that  if  it  becomes  necessary  she  will  apply  to  me." 

"  This  morning  [October  i8th],  immediately  after  break 
fast,  I  dress  and  go  to  the  Comte  de  Moustier's.  He  ap 
pears  very  glad  to  see  me,  and  we  converse  about  the 
state  of  affairs.  He  seems  inclined  to  accept  the  office  of 
Foreign  Affairs.  We  go  together  in  my  carriage  as  far  as 
the  Comte  de  Segur's,  where  he  takes  his  own,  and  in  the 
way  I  communicate  to  him  the  means  of  changing  the 
French  Constitution,  and  making  at  the  same  time  a  con- 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  465 

siderable  acquisition  of  territory.  He  shows  an  attach 
ment  to  the  interests  of  Prussia.  Pay  a  long  visit  to  the 
Comte  de  Segur.  He  is  intriguing  to  the  very  eyes,  while 
he  declares  his  determination  to  be  quiet.  It  is  very  pos 
sible,  however,  that  he  tells  the  truth,  for  man  deceives 
himself  much  oftener  than  he  deceives  others.  After  din 
ner  I  pay  a  visit  to  M.  de  Montmorin,  and  find  him  much 
agitated.  After  staying  some  time  in  the  salon  we  re 
tire  together,  and  he  gives  me  at  last  the  speech  I  had 
prepared  for  the  King.  He  then  tells  me  that  his  heart 
is  full  and  he  must  disburden  it  ;  that,  La  Marck  being 
gone,  he  has  nobody  but  me  whom  he  can  trust.  He 
then  proceeds  to  tell  me  that  the  King,  after  appointing 
Moustier,  and  after  Moustier's  acceptance,  wishes  to  be 
off,  because  he  fears  his  reputation  as  an  aristocrat,  and 
especially  the  inconsequent  conduct  of  Madame  de  Bre- 
han,  both  of  which  he,  Montmorin,  had  apprised  him  of 
before.  He  tells  me  that  Moustier  is,  at  the  hour  we 
are  talking,  in  conversation  with  the  King  and  Queen,  and 
he  feels  much  wounded  that  he  is  not  of  the  party.  He 
says  that  he  has  proposed  two  things  :  one,  to  have  a  coun 
cil  formed  of  persons  devoted  to  the  royal  interest  who 
would  pursue  the  Constitution  strictly,  but  with  the  view 
to  destroy  it ;  and  the  other,  to  leave  the  ministry  as  it  is, 
but  with  the  change  only  of  his  own  place  and  to  have  a 
private  council,  to  consist  of  himself,  M.  de  Moustier,  Ma- 
louet,  and  the  Abbe  de  Montesquiou,  or  if  he,  from  respect 
to  his  patron  Monsieur,  should  decline,  then  the  Arch 
bishop  of  Aix  ;  that  they  will  do  nothing  ;  that  he  finds 
his  measures  are  disconcerted,  and  he  knows  not  what 
to  count  upon  ;  that  he  supposes  this  to  come  from  the 
Comte  Mercy  d'  Argenteau,  who  gives  the  Queen  counsels 
well  calculated  to  serve  the  interests  of  Austria.  I  tell 
him  that  perhaps  some  persons  have  done  him  ill  offices 
30 


466  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

at  Court.  He  says  no,  that  he  is  well  received,  perfectly 
well,  but  he  declares  that  he  will  quit,  let  what  will  hap 
pen.  I  see,  however,  that  he  will  not  quit  entirely,  if 
he  can  help  it.  He  tells  me  that  he  has  not  force  enough 
of  character  to  pursue  the  measures  which  he  knows  to 
be  right.  This  I  well  know.  He  gives  me  a  history  of 
what  passed  respecting  the  Cour  planter e,  in  regard  to 
which,  having  first  opposed  the  plan  as  dangerous  and 
afterwards  insisted  on  vigorous  measures  to  carry  it 
through,  as  the  slightest  symptom  of  retreat  must  prove 
fatal,  he  found  a  different  plan  adopted,  and  then,  when 
the  King  was  about  to  take  M.  Necker,  he  told  His  Maj 
esty  that  he  would  give  himself  a  master  whom  he  must 
obey  ;  that,  subsequent  to  this  appointment,  he  took  a 
course  different  from  that  which  he  had  formerly  pur 
sued,  and  adopted  M.  Necker's  lenient  modes  of  proceed 
ing.  I  remind  him  that  I  had  frequently  pointed  out  the 
fatal  consequences  of  those  half-way  measures.  He  ac 
knowledges  this  and  says  that  he  also  saw  them,  but  he 
had  not  sufficient  vigor  of  mind  to  pursue  the  course 
which  appeared  to  himself  to  be  right.  I  ask  him  what 
situation  the  King  and  Queen  are  in  with  respect  to  the 
princes.  He  says  that  there  is  no  understanding  between 
them.  I  tell  him  that  I  am  informed  that  the  King  re 
ceives  letters  from  his  brothers  which  he  does  not  com 
municate.  He  says  that  this  is  true,  but  he  reads  to  him 
such  parts  as  relate  to  public  affairs.  I  tell  him  that  the 
Queen,  I  understand,  receives  letters  from  the  Emperor 
respecting  affairs  here.  On  this  subject  he  seems  to  be 
not  quite  clear,  and  says  again  that  he  apprehends  the 
late  change  to  arise  from  Austrian  counsels.  He  recom 
mends  to  me  the  greatest  secrecy,  in  a  style  which  seems 
to  beg  my  pity  for  so  much  of  human  weakness." 

"This  morning  [October  i9th]  the  Comte  de  Moustier 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  467 

breakfasts  with  me.  He  tells  me  what  passed  yesterday  with 
the  King  and  Queen.  He  tells  me  that  I  stand  high  in 
their  opinion,  as  well  as  in  that  of  M.  de  Montmorin.  He 
says  the  King  has  offered  him  the  embassy  to  England, 
and  that  he  is  to  stay  there  until  a  proper  opportunity 
shall  offer  of  placing  him  in  the  ministry,  which  would  at 
present  be  dangerous.  He  wishes  me  to  persuade  Mont 
morin  to  stay  longer,  which  I  promise  to  attempt.  He 
says  he  will  urge  the  sending  to  America  for  a  supply  of 
provisions,  or  rather  of  flour,  according  to  my  proposal  to 
M.  de  Montmorin.  He  has  some  scheme  of  finance  in  his 
head  which  I  must  discover,  if  I  can." 

"The  Comte  de  Moustier  calls  [October  2tst],  and  tells 
me  he  asked  an  audience  of  the  Queen  on  the  subject  of 
flour.  Her  Majesty  told  him  that  she  has  never  yet  seen 
my  letter  to  M.  de  Montmorin,  and  she  thinks  it  is  of  a  nat 
ure  not  to  have  escaped  her  attention.  He  desires  me  to 
give  him  a  copy.  He  then  tells  me  that  the  King  of  Prus 
sia  will  furnish  money  to  assist  in  putting  the  finances  of 
this  country  to  rights.  He  tells  me  what  passed  with  his 
Prussian  Majesty  on  that  subject,  and  that  he  intended  to 
head  his  armies  for  re-establishing  the  French  monarchy. 
He  communicates  a  number  of  queries  which  he  put  to 
M.  d'Ecrue  respecting  finance,  and  he  tells  me  that  D'E- 
crue  assures  him  there  is  not  a  man  in  this  country 
capable  of  managing  the  finances,  there  being  no  one 
who  joins  a  knowledge  of  money  matters  to  that  of  state 
affairs.  He  tells  me  what  passed  between  the  King  of 
Prussia  and  the  Emperor  at  Pilnitz,  as  related  to  him  by 
the  King.  Leopold  began  to  higgle,  but  the  King  told 
him  at  once  that,  however  different  their  dominions,  he 
would  send  an  equal  force  with  the  Emperor,  which  as 
tonished  the  latter.  I  give  him  many  hints  and  outlines 
of  a  plan  for  the  finances  of  this  country,  and  he  desires 


468  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

me  to  write  on  the  subject.  I  tell  him  that  a  good  consti 
tution  is  a  previous  requisite  ;  that  this  is  the  moment 
for  forming  one,  so  as  to  obtain  the  royal  consent,  and  I 
give  him  some  ideas  on  this  subject.  I  tell  him  that  my 
plan  is,  at  present,  to  persuade  M.  de  Montmorin  to  con 
tinue  in  place  until  he,  Moustier,  can  be  properly  ad 
mitted,  and  then  to  be  made  President  of  the  Council ; 
that  the  King  must  press  M.  de  Montmorin  to  continue, 
and  he  must  make  the  removal  of  Duportail  a  condition, 
by  which  means,  if  Delessart  can  be  brought  about,  there 
will  be  a  majority  in  the  council.  I  am  to  press  this  plan 
on  M.  de  Montmorin,  and  Moustier  is,  on  his  side,  to 
urge  the  Court.  I  dine  at  Madame  de  StaeTs,  and  say 
too  much  against  the  Constitution,  to  which  she  provoked 
me  by  fishing  for  the  praise  of  her  father.  I  did  not  swal 
low  the  bait." 

"  Dine  to-day  [October  22d]  with  M.  de  Montmorin. 
Before  dinner  I  go  into  his  closet,  and  there  urge  him  to 
continue  for  some  time  longer  in  office,  then  to  retire  as 
President  of  the  Council.  He  will  not  agree,  first,  be 
cause  it  is  impossible  to  manage  the  department  well ;  and, 
secondly,  because  he  has  so  pointedly  declared  his  deter 
mination  to  retire  that  he  cannot  retract.  I  think  this  last 
is  the  strongest  reason.  I  mention  to  him  St.  Croix  as 
being  recommended  by  the  Garde  des  Sceaux,  in  the  name 
of  all  the  ministers.  He  says  that  if  there  were  not  par 
ticular  reasons  against  admitting  him  (and  I  find  that 
these  bottom  on  pecuniary  foundations),  he  would  be  the 
fittest  person  in  the  world,  in  order  to  render  the  Ministry 
contemptible.  He  says  that  if  Segtir  will  not  accept, 
Barthelemi  would  answer.  M.  de  Molleville,  the  Minis 
ter  of  the  Marine,  gives  us  at  dinner  the  account  of  a 
dreadful  insurrection  of  the  blacks  at  Santo  Domingo.  I 
trust  that  the  account  (which  is  not  official)  is  exagger- 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  469 

ated.  After  dinner  he  tells  me  that  he  had  a  long  con 
versation  with  Moustier  about  me  this  morning,  and 
wishes  to  know  my  success  with  Montmorin.  This  leads 
to  a  conversation  on  the  subject  with  Madame  de  Beau 
mont,  in  which  I  communicate  the  plans  of  the  King's 
enemies  as  they  have  been  communicated  to  me.  They 
urge  me  to  renew  the  attack  on  M.  de  Montmorin.  I  do 
so,  and  he  tells  me  that  his  difficulties  are  insurmountable, 
that  the  affair  of  the  princes  having  possessions  in  Alsace 
is  ready  to  be  reported,  and  he  is  persuaded  that  the  As 
sembly  will  not  do  what  is  right  ;  that  the  affair  of 
Avignon  also  involves  a  very  disagreeable  dispute  with 
the  Pope,  which  he  is  certain  will  be  improperly  treated 
by  the  Assembly.  I  tell  him  that  these  objections  are 
trivial.  He  is  only  to  communicate  the  whole  truth  to  the 
Assembly,  and  let  them  decide  as  they  please  ;  that  as  to 
the  treatment  of  French  subjects  in  foreign  countries, 
which  forms  a  second  head  of  complaint,  he  must  remon 
strate  firmly  on  the  part  of  the  nation  and  communicate 
the  result,  which  will,  I  acknowledge,  be  unsatisfactory,  but 
for  that  reason  desirable.  I  then  tell  him  that  he  has  done 
so  much  to  injure  himself  with  his  order  as  a  nobleman 
that  he  must  continue  in  office  till  he  can  recover  his  rep 
utation  with  them,  to  which  effect  the  sending  of  the  Abbe 
de  Montesquiou  to  the  princes,  to  know  what  constitution 
they  wish  for,  will  greatly  operate.  I  had  opened  this 
chapter  to  him  in  the  morning,  as  well  as  the  negotiation 
to  be  made  with  the  Emperor.  I  find  that  this  last  idea  of 
his  order  works  ;  I  add,  therefore,  that  he  must  stay  and 
thereby  defeat  the  designs  of  his  enemies.  He  recurs 
then  to  his  declarations  so  publicly  made  that  he  would 
retire.  I  tell  him  that  these  may  be  easily  obviated,  be 
cause  the  King  can  desire  him  to  continue  until  he  can 
find  a  suitable  successor.  As  I  am  about  to  leave  M.  de 


470  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

Montmorin,  madame  takes  me  aside  to  know  the  success 
of  my  application  to  her  husband.  I  tell  her  that  he  does 
not  absolutely  agree,  but  I  think  he  will.  I  think,  how 
ever,  that  he  has  at  bottom  some  reason  which  he  will  not 
communicate  as  yet. 

"  Call  on  Madame  de  la  Suze.  Here  I  am  told  that  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  has  declared  his  bankruptcy,  and  put  his 
affairs  into  the  hands  of  trustees,  who  allow  him  a  pension. 
I  did  expect  to  have  met  the  Comte  de  Moustier  here,  but 
am  disappointed.  Return  home  and  read.  M.  de  Mont 
morin  repeated  to  me  this  morning  what  he  had  once 
mentioned  before,  viz.,  that  he  considers  it  indispensably 
necessary  that  the  Queen  should  be  present  at  the  discus 
sion  of  affairs  of  the  Cabinet,  and  that  for  this  purpose 
there  should  be  a  Privy  Council,  to  which  Malouet  *  should 
be  admitted.  I  do  not  see  the  use  of  this,  neither  do  I 
conceive  his  reason.  If  he  expects,  through  Malouet,  to 
govern  that  little  council,  he  mistakes  his  man  ;  at  least,  I 
think  so.  I  told  M.  de  Molleville  that  it  appeared  to  me 
most  fitting  to  remove  Duportail  at  present  and  place  there 
some  brave,  honest  soldier,  without  much  regard  to  his 
abilities,  and  then,  when  Moustier  comes  forward,  to  place 
him  (Molleville)  as  Garde  des  Sceaux,  and  Bougainville  as 
Minister  of  the  Marine.  He  approves  of  this,  but  wishes 
to  stay  where  he  is  until  he  shall  have  gained  some  repu 
tation  by  putting  the  affairs  of  that  department  in  order." 

"  I  find  Messieurs  de  Malouet  [October  25th]  and 
Moustier  at  Madame  de  StaeTs  to-night.  The  former  tells 
me  that  he  has  advised  M.  de  Montmorin  to  quit  his  post. 
He  says  that  the  Garde  des  Sceaux  keeps  the  King  in  con 
stant  alarm,  and  governs  him  by  his  fears,  so  that  M.  de 
Montmorin  has  very  little  influence  left.  He  says  that  I 

*  Pierre  Victor  Malouet  was  a  member  of  the  States-General  in  1789,  and 
became  prominent  as  a  Liberal  Royalist. 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  4/1 

am  mistaken  in  my  idea  that  this  Constitution  will  crumble 
to  pieces  of  itself  ;  that  the  resources  from  the  assignats 
will  hold  out  a  considerable  time  ;  that,  by  delaying  the 
liquidations,  they  can  procrastinate  the  moment  of  dis 
tress  ;  that  the  taxes  are  tolerably  well  paid,  etc.  I  persist 
in  my  opinion,  notwithstanding,  that  it  is  now  evident  that 
foreign  powers  will  do  nothing.  Indeed,  I  am  persuaded 
that  their  efforts  would  have  tended  rather  to  support  than 
to  destroy  the  new  system,  because  mankind  generally 
resist  against  violence.  Moustier  shows  me  a  note  he 
has  made  and  transmitted  to  the  Queen,  relative  to  sub 
sistence.  He  says  he  has  reason  to  believe  not  only  in  a 
coalition  of  the  different  parties  which  divided  the  last 
Assembly,  but  that  they  are  interested  in  the  great  specu 
lations  of  grain  made  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris." 

"  M.  Bremond  calls  [October  26th]  and  tells  me  that  the 
republican  party  count  with  certainty  on  an  attempt  of  the 
King  to  escape  ;  that  they  mean  to  facilitate  it,  and  then, 
laying  the  blame  of  all  events  upon  the  monarch  and  his 
nobles,  they  will  stop  payment  and  be  ready  to  meet  any 
attack  whatever.  At  twelve  I  go  by  appointment  to  the 
Comte  de  Moustier' s,  where  I  meet  M.  Tolozan.  This  meet 
ing  is  at  his  request,  and  to  confer  on  the  subject  of  sub 
sistence,  but  from  what  passes  I  do  not  see  what  can  have 
been  his  object.  I  find  that  Segur  is  ready  to  accept  the 
place  of  M.  de  Montrnorin,  although  he  does  not  avow 
it." 

"Spend  the  evening  [October  28th]  with  the  Baron  de 
Grand  Cour;  a  very  large  company,  and,  of  course,  no  so 
ciety.  Lord  Gower  tells  me  that  he  has  quitted  play,  on 
which  circumstance  I  very  sincerely  congratulate  him.  M. 
Bremond  tells  me  that  he  has  been  to  solicit  the  interest  of 
Alexandre  Lameth,  to  get  placed.  This  was  by  the  rec 
ommendation  of  Pellin.  Lameth  has  promised  him,  and 


4/2  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

while  there  he  saw  Duportail's  man  come  in  with  a  list  of 
officers  for  his  inspection  and  approbation,  and  as  he  was 
busied  with  the  examination,  Bremond  asked  to  have  a 
friend  appointed  sub-lieutenant,  which  was  immediately 
promised. 

"Wait  on  M.  de  Molleville,  and  open  Mr.  Swan's  busi 
ness.  I  tell  him  that  the  making  contracts  with  the 
lowest  bidder  will  not  answer  in  this  country  as  in  Eng 
land,  because  there  the  articles  always  exist  within  the 
power  of  the  government ;  and  consequently,  if  the  con 
tractors  fail  in  their  performance,  pecuniary  damages  set 
everything  right ;  but  here  a  failure  may  be  of  the  most 
dangerous  consequence,  and  it  would  frequently  be  the 
interest  of  an  enemy  to  occasion  that  failure,  and  to  pay 
the  stipulated  penalty.  Hence  I  infer  that  there  should 
be  a  moral  security  in  addition  to  the  pecuniary,  and  con 
clude  that  any  contract  he  may  make  should  be  condi 
tional  on  the  approbation  of  the  parties  concerned  in 
America,  by  the  Minister  Plenipotentiary  there.  I  next 
suggest  to  him  that  it  would  be  advantageous  to  fix  a 
price  for  provisions,  deliverable  either  in  Europe,  America, 
the  Isle  of  France,  or  the  West  Indies,  so  that  only  an 
order  need  be  given  for  the  quantities  and  places.  Show 
him  the  advantages  that  would  result  therefrom.  I  then 
suggest  that  it  would  be  proper  to  have  always  on  hand 
sufficient  for  six  months'  provisions  to  fifty  ships  of  the 
line,  and  to  have  every  month  a  month's  fresh  supply,  so 
that,  after  deducting  what  was  consumed,  the  balance  of 
the  provisions  in  store  beyond  six  months'  supply  should 
be  sold.  I  tell  him  that  if  his  contract  be  on  good  terms 
it  will  be  but  a  trifling  loss,  if  any,  to  the  marine,  and  that 
the  commerce  will  gain  what  the  marine  loses  ;  but  that 
by  this  means  they  will  always  be  prepared  for  war.  I 
conclude  by  telling  him  that  I  am,  before  all  things,  an 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  473 

American,  and  therefore  he  must  consider  what  I  say 
accordingly,  but  that  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  consult 
Moustier.  He  is  very  well  pleased  with  all  this,  and  I  think 
desirous  of  forming  some  such  plan.  He  desires  to  have 
a  sample  of  the  provisions  sent  to  him,  which  I  promise 
shall  be  done  if  any  of  them  be  left.  Communicate  to 
him  the  tricks  of  his  enemies,  who  are  sold  to  the  r<?gisseurs. 
He  tells  me  what  passed  this  morning  with  the  King  rela 
tive  to  M.  de  Montmorin.  His  Majesty  is  a  little  vexed 
with  him,  and  says  that  he  has  been  pestering  him  for 
six  months  to  name  a  successor,  etc.  M.  de  Molleville's 
brother,  who  is  just  returned  from  Coblentz,  tells  him  that 
M.  de  Montmorin  is  detested  there,  but  that  his  appoint 
ment  is  approved  of. 

"  Dine  with  M.  de  Montmorin.  He  shows  me  the  re 
port  he  intends  making  to  the  Assembly.  It  is  wonder 
fully  little,  considering  the  time  he  has  consumed  in  mak 
ing  it.  Propose  to  him  some  amendments,  which  I  think 
he  will  not  adopt,  and  he  will  repent  it  if  he  does  not. 
He  declares  war  against  the  newspaper  writers,  and  these 
are  sometimes  troublesome  and  sometimes  dangerous  ene 
mies.  He  says  that  Segur  has  been  with  him  this  morn 
ing,  and  accepted.  He  tells  me  that  the  King  has  not 
asked  him  to  stay.  To  this  I  reply  that  it  is  his  own  fault, 
because  he  had  declared  so  pointedly  his  determination 
that  the  King  was  exposed  thereby  to  the  mortification  of 
a  denial,  but  if  he  would  have  consented  to  stay  on  such 
application  being  made,  it  would  have  been  made.  He 
says  that  he  does  not  know  whether  he  shall  continue  in 
council.  He  has  told  the  King  that  he  will  stay  if  he  de 
sires  it,  but  wishes  His  Majesty  to  consider  the  matter  wrell 
beforehand,  because  if  hereafter  lie  should  find  it  con 
venient  to  send  him  away  it  would  be  injurious  to  both 
of  them.  Malouet  comes  during  the  dinner,  and  we  con- 


474  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXI. 

verse  afterwards.  He  confirms  to  me  that  M.  de  Mont- 
morin  is  without  influence.". 

Bertrand  de  Molleville  gives  Montmorin  credit  for  great 
fidelity  to  the  king,  and  says  of  him,  "that  he  has  been 
judged  with  great  severity,  and  perhaps  he  is  the  least 
known  of  all  the  men  who  took  part  in  the  Revolution. 
He  was  a  true  loyalist,  and  no  personal  fear  kept  him 
from  trying  to  aid  the  king,  and  this  he  did  by  concealed 
though  dangerous  correspondence,  which  was  paid  for 
out  of  the  funds  of  his  department.  Much  of  his  weak 
ness,  which  he  frankly  acknowledged,  had  its  source  in 
a  delicate  constitution." 

The  diary  continues :  "  I  have  a  long  conversation  with 
Madame  de  Beaumont  at  Madame  de  StaeTs  [October  29th]. 
She  suffers  exceedingly  from  her  father's  removal  from 
office.  The  British  ambassadress  tells  me  that  both  she 
and  Lord  Gower  have  quitted  playing,  and  that  she  thinks 
I  like  them  well  enough  to  be  pleased  at  it.  I  assure  her 
of  my  attachment  more  in  tone  and  manner  than  by  words, 
and  I  think  the  seed  is  not  sown  on  barren  ground.  Bre- 
mond  calls  me  out  to  tell  me  that  the  emigrants  expect  to 
enter  in  January  next,  and  that  the  Queen  is  at  length 
agreed  to  act  in  concert  with  the  princes.  This,  he  says, 
is  arrived  direct  from  the  Prince  of  Conde  this  day.  I  am 
afraid  that  the  Court  have  some  underhand  scheme,  and 
if  so,  they  bet  a  certainty  against  an  uncertainty. 

"  The  news  from  Hispaniola  are  very  bad,  and  I  think 
exaggerated,  but  the  negroes  are  in  revolt,  and  employed 
in  burning  the  plantations  and  murdering  their  masters. 
Moustier  says  he  imagines  M.  de  Montmorin  has  a  mind 
to  secure  to  himself  the  British  embassy,  and  have  him 
sent  to  Switzerland.  He  is  therefore  determined  to  push 
the  Queen  on  that  subject.  I  advise  him  to  let  that  alone, 
and  tell  him  the  news  brought  to  me  this  morning." 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  475 

"Visit  Madame  de  Segur  [October  3oth],  who  tells  me 
that  her  husband  has  this  morning  resigned  the  office  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  which  he  had  accepted  yesterday.  I 
congratulate  her  on  this  event.  He  has  grounded  his  re 
fusal  on  the  treatment  the  ministers  met  with  yesterday 
from  the  Assembly.  M.  de  la  Sonde  told  me  that  he  has 
further  intelligence  from  M.  Metternich,  and  he  tells  me 
that  M.  de  La  Porte  is  this  evening  to  submit  to  the  King 
a  plan,  sent  at  His  Majesty's  request  by  M.  de  Muries, 
who,  he  says,  is  a  little  fellow  of  sense,  information,  and 
unconquerable  spirit.  I  am  to  know  whether  His  Majesty 
adopts  it." 


476  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

Desired  to  converse  about  subsistence  at  a  royalist  dinner.  M.  de  Molle- 
ville  tells  him  he  has  proposed  him  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
Distress  of  the  Montmorin  family.  Narbonne,  Madame  de  Stael, 
and  the  ministry.  Supper  at  Lady  Sutherland's.  Morris  gives  a 
dinner.  M.  de  Narbonne  finally  appointed  Minister  of  War.  Vicq 
d'Azyr  says  the  queen  wishes  Morris's  ideas  in  writing  on  the  de 
cree  against  the  princes.  Dinner  at  the  British  ambassador's.  Pre- 
ville  at  the  Comedie  Fran9aise.  Sketching  a  form  of  government 
for  France.  Writes  a  philippic  against  the  chefs  des  republicains. 
Letter  to  Robert  Morris  on  the  failure  to  effect  a  commercial  treaty 
with  Great  Britain.  Washington  nominates  Morris  for  the  mis 
sion  to  France.  Confirmed  by  a  very  small  majority  in  the  Senate. 
The  king  in  high  spirits.  Letter  to  Washington  on  the  paper  circu 
lation  of  France  and  the  general  anarchy.  The  Bishop  of  Autun  to 
go  to  England.  The  Jacobins  discover  a  plan  for  violent  change  of 
the  Constitution.  Morris  prepares  for  a  journey  to  England.  Mes 
sage  from  the  queen. 

\  T  7E  have  a  staunch  royalist  dinner  to-day  [Novem- 

VV       ber  ist]  at  M.   de  Tolozan's,  consisting  of   the 

Count  de  Moustier,  M.  de  Malouet,  De  Verieux,  Mallet-Du- 

pin  and  M.  Gilet.    At  coming  away  M. follows  me,  to 

desire  I  will  stay  and  converse  about  the  subsistence.  I 
tell  him  that  it  is  unnecessary  ;  that  I  should  ask  for  six 
months,  which  I  am  sure  they  cannot  furnish.  Go  to  see 
M.  de  Molleville.  He  has  not  yet  tried  the  provisions  sent. 
He  says  that  many  objections  are  being  made  against  be 
ing  supplied  from  America,  such  as  the  distance,  the  uncer 
tainty,  etc.  He  has  desired  that  they  should  be  detailed 
in  writing,  and  will  place  his  observations  on  the  margin. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  477 

He  tells  me  that  he  is  determined  not  to  wait  for  the 
attack  of  the  Assembly,  but  will  always  find  them  in  work. 
For  this  purpose  he  has  already  proposed  to  them  a  great 
number  of  decrees,  and  of  such  nature  that  they  will  be 
in  the  wrong  if  they  do  not  adopt  them.  He  is  to  send 
me  a  copy.  He  tells  me  that  he  proposed  me  the  other 
day  at  M.  de  Montmorin's  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
I  laugh  at  this.  Discuss  with  him  the  manner  of  treating 
their  colonies,  if  they  mean  to  secure  their  fidelity." 

"Madame  de  Beaumont  tells  me  [November  3d]  that 
her  father  has  nothing,  and  seems  to  be  very  uncertain 
about  his  future  destiny.  There  is  over  this  family  an  air 
lugubre  et  tres  sombre.  M.  de  Montmorin  says  that  no  suc 
cessor  is  yet  appointed  to  him,  nor  has  the  King  at  all 
made  up  his  mind.  I  ask  him  what  is  to  become  of  him 
self,  and  tell  him  that  if  he  has  any  doubt  of  the  King's 
intentions  I  will  write  to  His  Majesty  on  the  subject.  He 
says  he  should  be  ashamed  both  of  the  King  and  himself, 
if  he  thought  him  capable  of  neglecting  him.  Dine  with 
the  British  ambassadress.  The  Princesse  de  Tarente  *  is 
here,  who  tells  me  that  the  Queen  often  talks  to  her  of  me 
when  they  are  riding  together.  I  reply  only  by  a  bow. 
She  repeats  it,  and  dwells  on  the  subject,  but  I  make 
only  the  same  reply.  I  give  Lady  Sutherland  some  verses, 
which  I  think  she  will  be  pleased  with.  M.  de tells 

*  It  was  this  Princesse  de  Tarente  (nee  Chatellon,  the  wife  of  Prince  de 
Tarente,  of  a  Neapolitan  family)  who  proved  herself  such  a  heroine  in  the 
cause  of  Marie  Antoinette  during  the  September  massacres  of  1792.  After 
two  days  of  unwearying  attention  to  the  dying  people  among  whom  she  staid, 
she  was  taken  before  the  tribunal,  and  there,  surrounded  by  bleeding  bodies, 
they  tried  to  force  from  her  a  confirmation  of  the  calumnies  against  the 
queen.  Failing  to  shake  her  courage  by  threats  or  promises,  they  ordered 
her  to  prison  ;  whereupon  she  demanded,  in  a  firm,  clear,  commanding  voice, 
instant  death  or  liberty.  Her  courage  so  electrified  the  spectators  that  they 
carried  her  in  triumph  to  her  house  and  left  her  unmolested.  As  soon  as 
possible  she  left  France,  and  subsequently  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  where  she 
died  in  1814. 


478  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

me  that  they  have  a  year's  supply  of  grain  for  the  troops. 
I  ask  him  how  much  bread  they  give,  and  of  what  quality. 
He  tells  me  that  the  ration  is  a  pound  and  a  half,  of  which 
three  quarters  are  wheat,  one  quarter  rye.  The  bran  is 
not  separated.  He  says  this  makes  an  excellent  bread, 
which  many  of  the  officers  prefer  to  the  bread  of  fine 
flour.  It  soaks  well  in  soup,  which,  considering  the  mixt 
ure  of  rye,  is  a  little  extraordinary." 

"  Sit  awhile  [November  8th]  with  M.  de  Montmorin. 
He  tells  me  that  his  objection  to  appointing  Narbonne 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  is  his  connection  with  Madame 
de  Stael.  I  ask  him  if  the  King  is  fully  apprised  of  the 
double  dealing  of  his  present  minister.  He  tells  me  that 
he  is.  I  give  him  some  hints  respecting  a  constitution 
for  this  country,  and  the  means  of  restoring  its  finances. 
Visit  Madame  de  Beaumont,  and  talk  poetry  and  literature 
instead  of  politics.  Just  before  dinner  I  announce  myself 
and  it  to  Madame  de  Montmorin.  After  dinner  M.  de 
Rayneval  comes  in,  who  is  in  much  choler  against  the 
Assembly.  He  says  the  Diplomatic  Committee  have  it  in 
contemplation  to  address  His  Majesty  for  the  removal  of 
the  whole  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs,  clerks  and  all. 
He  is  determined,  he  says,  to  defend  himself;  that  he 
cares  nothing  for  his  place,  but  will  struggle  for  his  repu 
tation.  Visit  for  a  moment  Madame  de  Segur,  and  prom 
ise  to  return  and  give  her  the  news  I  shall  collect.  She 
is  in  great  anxiety  about  the  colonies,  and  with  her  is  a 
person  who  declares  himself  to  be  totally  ruined.  His 
spirits  are  quite  broken.  At  Madame  de  Laborde's  the 
same  thing  presents  itself  in  the  Due  de  Xeres.  I  return 
to  Madame  de  Segur's  and  give  her  the  news,  which  are 
yet  tolerable  as  to  Port-au-Prince,  where  her  husband's 
property  lies.  Go  to  the  British  ambassadress's.  Her 
countenance  shows  me  that  the  verses  are  not  thrown 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  479 

away.  Afterwards  she  tells  me  that  she  was  ashamed, 
flattered,  and  delighted.  Tant  mieux.  Tell  the  Abbe  de 
Montesquieu  a  part  of  what  I  told  M.  de  Montmorin  this 
morning  of  the  means  of  establishing  a  constitution  for 
this  country.  His  mind  opens  to  these  ideas.  We  have 
all  the  world  and  his  wife  here.  Madame  de  Tarente  tells 
me  that  she  loves  me  because  I  love  the  Queen,  and  her 
reception  proves  that  my  conversation  is  not  disagreeable. 
I  make  it  short.  During  supper  I  observe  to  the  am 
bassadress  that  she  does  not  eat,  but  is  merely  a  dish  at 
her  own  table,  and  that  not  the  worst,  but  that  she  has 
not  the  politeness  to  ask  one  to  partake  of  it.  Madame  de 
Montmorin  wants  to  know  the  subject  of  our  conversation, 
which  is  in  English.  Lady  Sutherland  tells  her,  *  II  me 
dit  des  mechancetes.'  'Ah,  il  en  est  bien  capable!'  Ma 
dame  de  Stael  comes  in  late,  and  Madame  de  Tarente 
makes  mouths  at  her." 

"I  urge  M.  de  Montmorin  [November  zoth]  to  prepare 
a  reply  from  the  King  to  the  decree  against  the  emigrants, 
and  leave  him  engaged  in  it.  Dine  with  Madame  de  Stael 
where  I  meet  the  Abbe  Raynal.*  He  makes  many  ad 
vances  towards  me.  I  receive  them  but  coolly,  because  I 
have  no  great  respect  for  him.  After  dinner  Madame  de 
Stael  asks  my  opinion  as  to  the  acceptance  of  the  office 
of  foreign  affairs  by  her  friend  Narbonne.  I  give  her  my 
opinion  so  as  not  to  encourage  the  idea,  but  yet  not  to 
offend." 

M.  de  Narbonne,  with  so  able  a  supporter  as  Madame  de 
Stael,  was  quite  capable  of  presenting  himself  before  the 

*The  Abbe  Guillaume  Raynal,  French  philosopher  and  historian,  renounc 
ed  his  profession  when  he  went  to  Paris.  In  consequence  of  a  philosophical 
and  political  history  which  he  wrote,  and  in  which  he  declaimed  against  the 
political  and  religious  institutions  of  France,  he  was  arrested  and  exiled  for 
some  years  and  the  book  was  burned.  He  eventually  returned  to  Paris,  and 
died  there  in  1796. 


480  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

queen,  and  with  becoming  modesty,  suggesting  himself  as 
the  man  in  whose  hands  the  king  might,  with  entire  con 
fidence,  place  the  government.  What  wonder  that  Her 
Majesty  burst  out  laughing,  and  only  said  these  words  : 
"  fites-vous  fou,  M.  de  Narbonne?"  But  there  seemed 
to  be  no  other  man  for  the  place,  and  the  king,  much 
against  his  will,  placed  him  in  the  ministry  as  Minister  of 
War, 

"To-day  [November  i2th],  at  three,  M.  and  Madame  de 
Flahaut  come  to  dinner,  the  Minister  of  the  Marine 
shortly  after,  M.  and  Madame  de  Montmorin  towards 
four,  and  Madame  de  Beaumont,  who  was  at  the  Assembly, 
at  half  after  four,  when  we  dine.  A  pleasant  party,  and 
Madame  de  Flahaut  exerts  herself  to  please  ;  of  course,  she 
succeeds.  The  Minister  of  the  Marine  mentions  to  me 
again  an  affair  which  one  of  the  colonists  mentioned  at 
his  request  the  other  day,  and  which  I  gave  the  go  by. 
It  is  to  combine  the  payment  of  the  American  debt  with 
the  assistance  to  be  given  to  the  Colony  of  St.  Domingo. 
Promise  to  attend  to  it.  M.  de  Montmorin  tells  me  that 
he  wrote  to  the  King  his  opinion  as  to  the  decree  against 
the  princes,  and  offered  to  prepare  a  work  for  him  on  that 
subject ;  that  he  went  afterwards  to  his  council,  but  he 
never  opened  his  lips.  I  find  that  my  poor  friend  is 
dropped,  but  he  must  not  be  abandoned." 

"Sit  down  to  cards  [November  i5th]  with  Madame  de 
Flahaut  while  the  hair-dresser  renews  her  coiffure. 
From  here  I  go  to  see  Madame  de  Stael.  She  is  angry 
with  me.  I  told  M.  de  Molleville  that  she  had  consulted 
me  relative  to  Narbonne's  acceptance,  and  he  has  used  it 
as  a  pretext  against  his  appointment.  I  tell  her  that  I  see 
nothing  in  this  to  make  a  handle  of  ;  that  everybody 
knows  M.  de  Narbonne  has  been  in  contemplation  for  that 
office,  and  therefore  it  is  natural  enough  to  ask  the  opin- 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  481 

ion  of  different  people  whether,  in  case  the  post  is  offered, 
he  should  accept.  I  then  add  that  he  had  better  not  think 
of  it ;  that  the  object  is  merely  to  fill  a  gap  for  a  few 
months  and  then  to  drop  the  person  who  may  have  been 
appointed.  She  tells  me  that  the  ministry  is  stronger 
than  is  imagined,  and  is  about  to  give  me  her  reasons, 
which  she  delivers  in  part,  when  M.  de  St.  Leon  arrives, 
and  puts  an  end  to  the  conversation.  After  him  comes 
M.  de  Montmorin,  and  then  M.  de  Chapelier.  M.  Petion  is, 
it  seems,  appointed  Mayor  of  Paris,  and  this  alarms  a 
good  deal  la  bonne  sociti^,  but  I  think  it  is  not  amiss,  provided 
other  people  are  wise.  Moustier  has  pressed  me  hard  to 
write  on  the  finances,  which  I  evade  for  the  present,  tell 
ing  him  that  things  change  too  rapidly  and  too  much. 
Delessart,  it  is  said,  is  to  become  Minister  of  the  Marine. 
Bremond  tells  me  that,  under  the  auspices  of  the  triumvi 
rate,  Duport,  Barnave,  and  Lameth,  he  and  others  are 
about  to  publish  a  journal.  I  tell  him  not  to  connect  him 
self  too  much  with  them. 

"  Dine  at  the  Louvre.  M.  Vicq  d'Azyr  tells  me  that  he 
repeated  to  the  Queen  the  conversation  he  had  with  me 
respecting  the  decree  against  the  princes,  and  that  she 
desired  to  have  it  in  writing,  telling  him  that  she  knew 
how  to  value  everything  from  that  quarter.  He  thinks 
that  this  contributed  in  some  degree  to  the  rejection.  I 
don't  believe  a  word  of  the  matter.  He  desires  me  to 
give  my  advice  as  to  the  conduct  they  should  pursue  re 
specting  the  decree  against  the  priests.  I  desire  to  have 
the  decree  and  the  constitutional  acts  relating  to  those  un 
fortunate  men  before  I  give  my  opinion.5' 

"I  see  M.  de  Montmorin  [November  2oth],  and  tell  him 
the  purport  of  my  letter  to  the  King  on  his  subject. 
Speaking  again  of  his  continuance  in  office,  he  says  that 
it  was  impossible  ;  that  he  will  tell  me  the  reason,  one  of 


482  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

these  days  ;  that  the  King  ought  to  be  obliged  to  him  for 
concealing  it.  I  tell  him  that  I  always  supposed  he  had 
some  reason  which  he  did  not  mention,  because  those 
which  he  gave  were  insufficient.  Call  on  the  British 
ambassador.  He  compliments  me  on  the  verses  given  to 
his  wife.  There  is  here  one  of  the  Queen's  women,  who 
desires  to  be  acquainted  with  me.  She  turns  the  conver 
sation  upon  politics,  and  I  make  my  visit  short." 

"  I  have  a  small  dinner  party  to-day  [November  25th]. 
It  is  whimsical  that  my  little  dinner,  consisting  of  three 
things,  is  drawn  from  an  immense  distance ;  oysters  from 
Colchester,  trout  from  the  Rhine,  and  partridges  from 
— quaere." 

"  Mr.  Tolozan  calls  [November  26th],  and  talks  about  the 
situation  of  public  affairs ;  the  union  of  able,  honest  men 
necessary  to  save  the  kingdom.  I  agree  to  this,  but  tell 
him  that  unless  the  King  and  Queen  will  give  their  full 
confidence  to  such  men  it  will  answer  no  purpose.  See 
Montmorin,  who  says  the  King  never  answers  his  let 
ters,  and  asks  if  he  answers  mine.  I  tell  him  no,  and  that 
I  do  not  expect  it,  because  I  wish  nor  want  nothing  from 
him.  He  says  he  lately  communicated  the  assurances 
that  one  of  the  provinces,  with  all  the  troops  in  it,  would  be 
depended  on  as  adhering  to  the  royal  cause.  He  does  not 
tell  me  which  it  is.  He  tells  me  that  the  real  cause  why 
he  quitted  the  ministry  was  that  he  had  not  the  full  con 
fidence  of  their  majesties  ;  that  they  were  governed  some 
times  by  counsels  from  Brussels,  and  sometimes  from 
Coblentz  ;  that  he  urged  them  to  adopt  a  privy  council 
to  decide  in  all  cases,  and  endeavored  to  convince  them 
that  unless  they  fixed  a  plan  of  conduct  they  would 
be  greatly  injured,  but  in  vain.  Bremond  comes  to  see 
me,  and  I  work  with  him  at  a  pamphlet  on  the  finances. 
I  dictate,  and  he  writes.  At  four  go  to  dine  with  the  Brit- 


I79I-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  483 

ish  ambassadress.  After  dinner,  as  there  are  none  but  the 
family,  we  chat  together  very  freely.  He  puts  Mr.  Short 
on  the  carpet,  and  she  opens  against  him.  I  assure  her 
that  he  is  a  very  sensible,  judicious  young  man,  and  very 
attentive  to  his  business.  She  asks  me  where  he  is  ;  that 
he  has  not  appeared  lately  at  Court.  I  tell  her  that  he 
was  in  the  country  with  the  Due  and  Duchesse  de  la 
Rochefoucault,  and  is  now  gone  on  business  of  the  United 
States  to  Holland.  She  asked  if  he  is  Ambassador  to  all 
the  nations  of  Europe,  and  laughs  heartily  at  the  idea.  I 
tell  her  that  the  business  he  is  employed  in  there  does  not 
require  an  ambassador.  She  says  he  has  not  the  look 
and  manner  which  such  a  character  requires.  I  reply  that 
he  might  not  do  well  in  Russia,  but  at  any  other  court  I 
do  not  conceive  figure  to  be  very  important.  She  puts  an 
end  to  the  conversation  by  telling  me  that  if  I  wish  to 
give  foreigners  a  favorable  impression  of  my  country, 
I  must  get  myself  appointed.  A  bow  of  acknowledg 
ment  for  the  compliment  is  the  only  reply  which  it  ad 
mits  of.  She  appeals  to  the  Ambassador,  and  of  course 
he  answers,  as  usual  upon  such  appeals,  in  the  affirma 
tive." 

"Take  Madame  de  Laborde  [December  ist]  to  the 
Comedie  Francaise,  where  I  have  the  pleasure  to  see  Pr£- 
ville  *  perform  in  the  '  Bourreau  bienfaisant.'  He  is 
truly  an  actor  ;  nothing  below  and  nothing  above  the  part, 

*  Pierre  Louis  Dabus,  called  Preville,  was  acknowledged,  by  all  the  critics 
who  saw  him  play,  as  near  perfection  as  possible.  "  Le  Bourreau  bienfai 
sant  "  was  one  of  his  greatest  successes.  Preville  appeared  first  at  the  Co 
medie  Francaise  in  1753,  and  became  a  great  favorite  with  Louis  XV.  With  a 
pension  he  retired  in  1786,  but  the  French  stage  being  in  a  bad  way  in  1791, 
he  consented,  although  seventy  years  of  age,  to  appear.  His  advent  was 
greeted  with  enthusiasm,  for  he  had  seemingly  lost  none  of  his  physical 
forces.  Again  he  retired  from  the  stage,  in  1792,  but  appeared  again  in 
1795,  when,  in  the  midst  of  his  performance  of  the  "  Mercure  galant,"  whilst 
he  was  being  vehemently  applauded,  he  suddenly  gave  signs  of  mental  aber 
ration.  He  was  born  in  September,  1721,  and  died  in  1799. 


484  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

no  false  ornament,  but  the  *  naked  nature  and  the  living 
grace.'  The  Queen  is  here,  and  is  perfectly  well  received. 
I  sit  directly  over  her  head,  and  somebody,  I  suppose,  tells 
her  so,  for  she  looks  up  at  me  very  steadily  so  as  to  recog 
nize  me  again  ;  this,  at  least,  is  my  interpretation.  My  air, 
if  I  can  know  it  myself,  was  that  of  calm  benevolence  with 
a  little  sensibility.  A  letter  from  the  Empress  of  Russia 
to  the  Prince  de  Conde  is  shown  to  me,  which  is  very  en 
couraging  to  the  emigrants.  Bremond  tells  me  that  the 
secret  council  of  the  King  consists  of  M.  de  Molleville, 
M.  de  Fleurieu,  and  M.  de  la  Porte.  He  brings  several 
materials  on  which  to  ground  an  attack  of  the  republican 
party." 

"  Go  to  see  Madame  de  Stael  [December  3d].  While 
she  is  dressing,  we  have  some  conversation  which  is 
not  unpleasing  to  her.  We  have  here  a  large  company. 
Delessart  has  been  denounced  this  day  by  the  Abbe 
Fauchet,  and  the  Bishop  d'Autun.  who  dined  with  him, 
tells  me  that  he  was  so  sick  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
table." 

"  I  send  Bremond  to  Lameth  [December  4th]  to  advise 
that  Delessart  retire  because  he  has  not  firmness  enough 
for  the  situation  in  which  he  is  placed.  Go  to  Madame 
Tronchin's  to  a  thJ,  and  to  M.  de  Montmorin's,  and 
while  there  prepare  a  little  paragraph  for  him  contradict 
ing  the  report  that  he  has  absconded.  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  has  been  correcting  a  work  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun's 
which  is  an  address  to  the  King  from  the  department 
against  the  decree  inflicting  penalties  on  the  non-juring 
clergymen.  She  thinks  the  step  improper,  and  so  do  I. 
She  says  it  is  well  written." 

"  This  morning  [December  6th]  I  dictate  to  Bremond  a 
philippic  against  the  chefs  des  republic  aim  ;  employ  myself 
in  preparing  a  form  of  government  for  this  country.  At 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  48$ 

half-past  four  go  to  dine  with  M.  de  Montmorin.  Find 
him  employed  in  reading  the  address  to  the  King  by  the 
members  of  the  Department  of  Paris.  It  is  well  written 
in  many  respects,  but  the  style  is  rather  that  of  a  popular 
manager  than  of  an  address  to  a  monarch.  In  order,  also, 
to  excuse  their  interference,  they  inveigh  much  against 
the  emigrants,  and  prove  that  while  they  talk  big  they 
tremble.  M.  de  Montmorin  tells  me  that  the  Bishop 
d'Autun  pressed  Petion,  the  mayor,  to  sign  it,  who  re 
fused,  saying  that  he  approved  of  the  thing  but  would  not 
fall  out  with  the  fous  and  enrages,  because  it  is  they  and 
not  the  reasonable  people  who  support  revolutions,  and, 
for  his  own  part,  he  does  not  choose  to  be  hanged  for  the 
sake  of  giving  triumph  to  reason.  I  think  he  acts  wisely, 
and  the  other,  who  constantly  places  himself  between  two 
stools,  will  never  have  a  secure  seat.  Call  on  the  Minister 
of  the  Marine.*  He  shows  me  a  sketch  of  a  speech  to  be 
made  by  the  King  to  the  Assembly.  We  converse  on 
public  affairs  and  the  means  of  establishing  a  constitution 
in  this  country  which  may  secure  the  just  rights  of  the 
nation  under  the  government  of  a  real  king.  He  prom 
ises  to  sound  the  King  and  Queen,  and  I  promise  to  sketch 
out  some  hints." 

"  To-day  [December  ;th],  in  conversing  with  M.  de  La- 
borde,  we  go  from  one  thing  to  another,  till  at  last  he 
communicates  to  me  a  journal  he  is  writing  and  which  is 
distributed  at  the  King's  expense  to  the  lodges  of  free 
masons  in  the  kingdom.  He  says  that  the  King  and 
Queen,  M.  de  la  Porte,  and  he  are  the  only  persons  in  the 
secret.  I  tell  him  that  by  the  same  means  he  may  feel 
the  pulse  of  the  nation  and  determine  from  thence  what 
can  be  attempted  with  a  prospect  of  success.  He  prays 
me  to  give  him  a  list  of  the  questions  which  I  propose, 

*  M.  de  Fleurieu. 


DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.    XXII. 

and  I  promise  to  do  so.  I  leave  him,  to  repent  of  this  con 
fidence,  for  that  is  the  nature  of  man.  M.  de  Narbonne 
has  been  to  the  Assembly  this  morning  to  announce  his 
appointment.  I  shall  be  surprised  if  he  succeeds,  for, 
though  he  is  by  no  means  deficient  in  point  of  under 
standing,  I  think  he  has  not  the  needful  instruction,  that 
he  has  not  acquired  the  habits  of  business,  and  that  he  is 
totally  void  of  method  in  affairs.  Nous  verrons." 

"  Continue  [December  8th]  preparing  the  form  of  a 
constitution  for  this  country,  when  a  person  comes  in  who 
tells  me  that  he  sent,  in  July  last,  the  form  of  a  constitu 
tion  for  America  to  General  Washington.  He  says  that 
he  has  made  such  objects  his  study  for  above  fifty  years  ; 
that  he  knows  America  perfectly  well,  though  he  has 
never  seen  it,  and  is  convinced  that  the  American  Consti 
tution  is  good  for  nothing.  I  get  rid  of  him  as  soon  as  I 
can,  but  yet  I  cannot  help  being  struck  with  the  simili 
tude  of  a  Frenchman  who  makes  constitutions  for  Amer 
ica  and  an  American  who  performs  the  same  good  offices 
for  France.  Self-love  tells  me  that  there  is  a  great  differ 
ence  of  persons  and  circumstances,  but  self-love  is  a  dan 
gerous  counsellor.  After  dinner  go  to  the  French  comedy 
to  see  Preville.  He  is  seventy-five  years  of  age  and  his 
action  is  perfect.  The  best  of  the  others  may  be  said  to 
act  well  their  parts,  but  he  represents  his.  I  find  that  I 
had  formed  just  ideas  on  this  subject,  for  he  is  free  pre 
cisely  from  those  faults  which  had  struck  me  in  the 
others." 

"Yesterday  I  finished  the  copy  and  correction  of  a  plan 
of  government  and  of  general  principles  to  accompany  it. 
To-day  [December  i4th]  we  have  a  good  dinner  and  as 
much  company  as  the  table  will  hold,  at  the  house  of  the 
Minister  of  the  Marine,  De  Fleurieu.  I  tell  him  that  I 
have  prepared  some  notes  on  a  constitution  to  show  him. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  487 

He  says  he  has  sounded  the  King  on  the  subject,  who  has 
recommended  him  to  attend  to  it.  He  has  recommended 
to  His  Majesty  the  most  profound  secrecy,  and  taken  occa 
sion  to  inculcate  the  necessity,  from  seeing  in  a  gazette 
what  had  passed  in  council.  After  dinner  go  to  the 
French  comedy  ;  Preville,  in  the  part  of  Soste,  in  Moliere's 
'Amphitryon.'  It  is  wonderful.  He  would  be  considered 
an  excellent  actor,  his  age  out  of  the  question,  but,  all 
things  considered,  he  is  a  prodigy." 

It  will  be  proper  here  to  mention  the  fact  that  severe 
criticisms  were  made  in  America  on  Morris's  failure  to 
effect  a  commercial  treaty  with  Great  Britain,  the  affairs 
of  which  had  occasioned  several  visits  to  London,  many 
detentions  waiting  upon  the  pleasure  of  the  Duke  of 
Leeds,  and  the  consequent  loss  of  much  valuable  time. 
He  wrote  on  December  i4th  to  Robert  Morris  very  fully 
of  his  feelings  on  the  subject,  he  says  : 

"  I  am  by  no  means  surprised  that  my  conduct 
should  be  severely  criticised,  because  those  who  wish 
to  promote  their  friends  generally  find  fault  with  every 
person  and  thing  which  may  stand  in  the  way  of  their 
wishes.  It  would  seem  also  that  they  have  set  down  to  the 
account  of  vanity  the  act  of  which  they  disapprove,  for  this 
is  the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  what  you  say — although 
your  delicacy  spares  me  the  mention.  Believe  me,  I  am 
not  wounded  by  this  imputation.  If  my  errand  had  become 
public,  if  even  my  brother  had  known  it,  I  should  have  been 
hurt  by  their  charge.  You  say  the  French  ambassador 
posted  immediately  to  communicate  my  business  to  the 
Duke  of  Leeds.  There  was  no  harm  at  all  in  any  communi 
cation  he  could  make,  for  he  only  knew  that  I  was  ordered 
to  call  for  performance  of  the  treaty,  and  you  will  recollect 
that,  if  ever  we  quarrel  on  that  subject,  it  may  be  proper  to 
ask  the  interference  of  France.  You  say  that  the  British 


488  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

Ministry  have  complained,  and  drawn  the  conclusion  that 
they  can  expect  little  good  from  negotiations  connected 
previously  with  France.  This  is  really  pleasant.  Certainly 
nothing  but  their  confidence  in  that  English  party  which 
Lord  Hawkesbury  mentions  as  existing  in  our  councils, 
and  which  I  flatter  myself  does  not  exist,  could  ever  have 
permitted  a  complaint  so  idle.  The  French  ambassador 
could  mention  nothing  about  a  treaty  of  commerce,  for  he 
knew  nothing  about  it,  and,  of  course,  the  only  possible  in 
ference  from  what  he  did  say  was  that  he  and  his  court 
were  strangers  to  that  part  of  the  negotiation  which  was 
truly  interesting  to  Great  Britain — of  course,  that  I  did  not 
consult  him.  And  so  the  fact  is  ;  for  we  never  exchanged 
one  word  on  the  subject  after  the  first  interview.  The 
reason  is  plain.  He  was  afraid  of  being  called  on  to  sup 
port  the  demand  made,  and  I  chose  only  to  let  him  know 
as  much  as  would  account  for  my  interviews  with  the 
Duke  of  Leeds,  which  his  spies  in  the  public  offices  could 
not  but  make  him  acquainted  with.  But  there  is  another 
trait  in  this  affair  which  is  still  more  diverting,  and  which 
makes  me  desirous  of  having  (if  possible)  this  same  com 
plaint  of  theirs  authenticated.  I  will  suppose  it  to  be  a 
very  good  reason  to  be  given  to  America  for  not  conferring 
a  favor  on  her,  that  the  man  sent  to  ask  it  was  disagree 
able,  no  matter  from  what  cause — but  I  trust  that  they 
will  never  avow  to  the  British  nation  a  disposition  to  make 
sacrifice  of  their  interests  to  please  a  pleasant  fellow.  It 
will  remain,  therefore,  for  them  to  justify  the  refusal  of 
an  advantageous  connection  because  not  presented  in  an 
agreeable  manner.  Is  it  not  a  very  sensible  sort  of  speech, 
*  I  am  very  hungry,  and  the  victuals  are  good,  but  I  can 
not  eat  off  earthenware  ?'  If  anyone  should  say  so  to  me, 
I  should  conclude  either  that  he  wanted  appetite  or  did 
not  like  his  dinner. 


I79L]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  489 

"  Seriously,  my  friend,  the  obstacle  to  a  treaty  was  in 
the  British  Cabinet.  The  opposers  have  since  found  out 
that  they  committed  a  fatal  error,  and  wish  to  get  clear  of 
the  blame.  They  would  have  been  very  glad  of  any  ex 
cuse  to  tread  the  ground  back  again,  but,  unfortunately, 
none  was  given,  and  they  have  therefore,  in  fear  of  French 
influence,  sent  you  a  minister — and  they  will  make  a  treaty 
with  us  as  soon  as  the  people  are  ripe  for  it  and  the  mer 
cantile  interests  feel  the  necessity.  All  the  rest  is  mere 
palaver.  If  you  mean  to  make  a  good  treaty  with  Britain, 
support  your  pretensions  with  spirit,  and  they  will  respect 
you  for  it.  You  must  give  them  visible  reasons,  because 
they  will  have  to  justify  their  conduct,  and  it  will  not  do 
to  say  to  a  House  of  Commons,  'The  American  Minister 
was  such  a  charming  fellow  that  we  could  not  resist  him.' 
I  rather  think  it  would  be  at  least  as  good  ground  to  say  : 
*  The  American  Legislature  would  have  greatly  injured 
our  navigation  and  commerce  if  we  had  not,  by  this  treaty, 
induced  them  to  repeal  their  laws  ;  and  there  was  reason, 
also,  to  apprehend  that  the  United  States  would  connect 
themselves  still  more  intimately  with  France,  who,  for 
the  sake  of  such  connection,  would  doubtless  support 
them  in  their  claims  as  soon  as  the  state  of  her  domestic 
affairs  would  permit  her  to  look  abroad.'  Place  yourself 
in  the  position  of  a  British  Minister,  and  ask  yourself 
whether  these  latter  motives  would  not  be  most  likely  to 
prevail.  At  the  next  session  of  Parliament  the  adminis 
tration  will  be  hunted  hard,  and  they  will  be  very  glad  to 
shelter  themselves  from  blame  on  the  American  business, 
ere  it  be  long." 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  political  enemies  in  America 
would  be  on  the  alert  to  magnify  the  ill-success  of  the  ne 
gotiations  in  England.  The  abrupt  manner  with  which 
Morris  was  reported  to  have  treated  the  British  Minis- 


DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

try,  the  knowledge  of  his  opposition  to  the  Revolution, 
and  his  well-known  position  in  aristocratical  circles,  were 
all  exaggerated  into  some  grave  offence.  When,  therefore, 
during  the  session  of  1792,  Washington  nominated  him 
for  the  position  of  Minister,  and  his  name  came  before  the 
Senate  for  approval,  there  was  considerable  opposition  to 
his  being  appointed  to  the  Court  of  France,  and  he  was 
chosen  by  only  a  small  majority  to  be  one  of  the  first 
representatives  under  the  new  Government. 

While  these  arrangements  were  making  in  America,  and 
Morris  was  exerting  every  effort  in  behalf  of  order  and 
stability  in  France,  he  found  plenty  of  time,  without  com 
promising  the  seriousness  or  the  sincerity  of  his  services, 
to  enjoy  what  there  was  of  amusement.  This  centred 
principally  in  the  theatres,  of  which  there  was  no  lack  in 
variety  or  number.  The  demand  for  that  sort  of  recre 
ation  was  enormous,  to  judge  from  the  fact  which  Gon- 
court  mentions,  that  nearly  each  day  of  1791  saw  a  new 
theatre  opened.  The  life  of  a  large  number  of  them  was 
very  brief.  "Ouverts  vendredi,  tombes  samedi,"  was 
not  inappropriately  said  of  some  of  the  last  that  were 
opened.  At  the  Theatre  Francais  Preville  was  delighting 
his  audiences,  and  Morris  speaks  of  the  difficulty  of  getting 
a  ticket.  "  I  wait  half  an  hour  at  the  Theatre  Frangais,"  says 
the  diary  for  December  i9th,  "  before  my  servant  can  get 
a  ticket,  and  afterwards  I  get  a  very  bad  place,  but  still  I 
think  myself  recompensed  by  Preville,  who  is  truly  formed 
to  hold  the  mirror  up  to  nature  and  to  show  to  the  very 
shape  and  body  of  the  time  his  form  and  pressure.  I 
meet  M.  de  Bougainville,  who  has  served  in  Canada  in 
the  war  of  '59.  We  converse  on  the  public  affairs  of  this 
country.  He  tells  me  that  I  am  mistaken  in  my  idea 
that  he  is  in  amity  with  St.  Foi,  the  Bishop  d'Autun,  etc.  ; 
that  he  considers  them  as  a  pack  of  rascals,  and  the  King 


I79I-J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  491 

views  them  in  the  same  light  and  detests  them.  He  as 
sured  Bougainville  that  he  accepted  the  Constitution 
merely  to  avoid  a  civil  war.  I  tell  him  that  the  King  is 
betrayed  by  the  weakness,  if  not  the  wickedness,  of  his 
counsellors.  He  says  that  he  is  of  the  same  opinion.  I 
ask  him  what  he  thinks  of  Fleurieu.  He  tells  me  that  he 
is  a  poor  creature.  The  Bishop  of  Autun  observes  to  me 
at  the  Louvre  to-day  that  the  Jacobins  have  not  been  able 
to  raise  a  riot  about  their  address.  I  tell  him  that  since 
the  frolic  at  the  Champ  de  Mars  there  is  little  danger  of 
riots,  because  the  people  are  not  very  fond  of  them  when 
they  find  that  death  is  a  game  which  two  can  play  at. 
He  says  that  the  King  is  in  wondrous  high  spirits  since 
his  vetoes  have  gone  off  easily,  and  says  that  he  will  apply 
them  every  now  and  then.  Poor  King  ! " 

"Dine  [December  2ist]  with  Madame  Tronchin,  and 
meet  here  Madame  de  Tarente.  Ask  her  to  procure  for 
me  a  lock  of  the  Queen's  hair.  She  promises  to  try.  I 
think  Her  Majesty  will  be  pleased  with  the  request  even 
if  she  does  not  comply  with  it,  for  such  is  woman.  Call 
at  Madame  de  StaeTs.  She  is  in  bed  and  is  glad  to  see 
me,  and  tells  me  all  the  news  she  knows.  The  Abbe 
Louis  comes  in,  who  is  flagorneur  au  possible  (Hibernice, 
blarney).  Delessart,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  is  at 
Madame  de  Montmorin's  this  afternoon,  and  as  we  turn  a 
good  many  things  over  in  conversation  after  dinner,  I 
conclude  in  going  away  by  telling  him  that  the  King  is 
the  only  piece  of  wood  which  will  remain  afloat  in  the 
general  shipwreck.  He  says  that  he  begins  to  think  so. 
I  recommend  to  the  Minister  of  the  Marine  the  bringing 
of  Swiss  troops  to  Paris,  under  the  pretext  that  they  are 
too  aristocratic  to  be  trusted  on  the  frontiers.  They  will 
preserve  order  here  in  the  general  confusion  which  may 
be  expected.  Recommend  that  under  similar  pretexts 


492  DIARY   AND    LETTERS  OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

the  cavalry  be  brought  to  an  interior  circle.     He  approves 
of  this." 

"As  to  the  state  of  things  here,"  Morris  wrote  to 
Washington  on  December  2yth,  "  I  would  convey  it  to 
you  as  fully  as  propriety  will  admit,  but  I  know  not  yet 
by  what  opportunity  this  letter  will  go  and  the  Post 
Office  was  never  more  abused  under  the  most  despotic 
minister  than  it  is  at  present,  notwithstanding  the  decrees 
to  the  contrary.  Every  letter  I  receive  bears  evident 
marks  of  patriotic  curiosity.  This  anxious  spirit  of  petti 
fogging  villainy  proves  the  fear  of  those  who  make  use 
of  it,  and  truly  they  have  reason  to  fear,  for  every  day 
proves  more  clearly  that  their  new  Constitution  is  good 
for  nothing.  Those  whom  I  had  warned  in  season  of  the 
mischief  they  were  preparing,  endeavor,  now  that  it  is  too 
late,  to  lay  the  blame  on  others  by  way  of  excusing  them 
selves.  But  the  truth  is  that,  instead  of  seeking  the  pub 
lic  good  by  doing  what  was  right,  each  sought  his  own 
advantage  by  flattering  the  public  opinion.  They  dare 
not  now  propose  the  amendments  which  they  perceive 
and  acknowledge  to  be  indispensable.  They  have,  be 
sides,  no  confidence  in  each  other,  for  everyone  feels  a 
reason  against  it,  and  meets,  moreover,  with  daily  proofs 
that  his  compatriots  are  no  better  than  himself.  The 
Assembly  (as  you  who  know  such  bodies  will  naturally 
suppose)  commits  every  day  new  follies,  and  if  this  un 
happy  country  be  not  plunged  anew  into  the  horrors  of 
despotism  it  is  not  their  fault.  They  have  lately  made  a 
master-stroke  to  that  effect  ;  they  have  resolved  to  attack 
their  neighbors  unless  they  dissipate  the  assemblies  of 
French  emigrants  who  have  taken  refuge  in  their  domin 
ions.  These  neighbors  are  members  of  the  German  Em 
pire,  and  France  threatens  to  carry  into  their  country,  not 
fire  and  sword  but  la  libertJ.  Now,  as  this  last  word  does 


i79i.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  493 

not,  in  the  acceptation  of  German  courts,  mean  so  much 
liberty  as  insurrection,  you  will  see  that  the  pretext  is  given 
for  hostilities  without  violating  the  law  of  nations.  Add 
to  this  that  three  French  armies  of  50,000  men  each  are 
ordered  to  assemble  on  the  frontiers — one  under  your  old 
acquaintance  Rochambeau  in  Flanders,  one  under  our 
friend  Lafayette  in  Lorraine  so  as  to  penetrate  by  the 
Moselle  River  into  the  Electorate  of  Treves,  and  one  under 
a  M.  Luckner  in  Alsace.  This  last  has,  I  am  told,  but 
slender  abilities,  and  the  other  two  you  are  acquainted 
with.  Putting  all  other  things  out  of  the  question,  it  is 
self-evident  that  the  Empire  must  bring  force  to  oppose 
force  thus  ordered,  and  in  consequence  it  is  not  to  be 
doubted  that  50,000  Prussians  and  50,000  Austrian  troops 
will  make  their  appearance  as  speedily  as  circumstances 
will  permit.  You  have  no  idea,  my  dear  sir,  of  a  society 
so  loosely  organized.  America  at  the  worst  of  times  was 
much  better,  because  at  least  the  criminal  law  was  exe 
cuted,  not  to  mention  the  mildness  of  our  manners.  My 
letter  predicting  their  present  situation  may  perhaps 
have  appeared  like  the  wanderings  of  exaggerated  fancy, 
but,  believe  me,  they  are  within  the  coldest  limits  of  the 
truth.  Their  army  is  undisciplined  to  a  degree  you  can 
hardly  conceive.  Already  great  numbers  desert  to  what 
they  expect  will  become  the  enemy.  Their  Garde  Nation- 
ale  who  have  turned  out  as  volunteers  are  in  many  instances 
that  corrupted  scum  of  overgrown  populations  of  which 
large  cities  purge  themselves,  and  which,  without  consti 
tution  to  support  the  fatigues,  or  courage  to  encounter 
the  perils  of  war,  have  every  vice  and  every  disease  which 
can  render  them  the  scourge  of  their  friends  and  the 
scoff  of  their  foes. 

"  The  finances  are  deplorably  bad.     The  discontent  is 
general,  but   it  does  not  break  out,  partly   because    the 


494  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIL 

antipathy  to  the  aristocrats  and  the  fear  of  their  tyranny 
still  operates,  and  partly  because  no  safe  opportunity 
offers.  Everyone  is  bewildered  in  his  meditations  as  to 
the  event,  and,  like  a  fleet  at  anchor  in  a  fog,  no  one  will 
set  sail  for  fear  of  running  foul.  If  they  come  to  blows 
on  the  border  a  curious  scene  will,  I  think,  present  itself. 
The  first  success  on  either  side  will  decide  the  opinions  of 
a  vast  number  who  have,  in  fact,  no  opinion,  but  only  the 
virtuous  determination  to  adhere  to  the  strongest  party  ; 
and  you  may  rely  on  it  that  if  the  enemy  be  tolerably  suc 
cessful,  a  person  who  shall  visit  this  country  two  years 
hence  will  inquire  with  astonishment  by  what  means  a 
nation  which,  in  the  year  1788,  was  devoted  to  its  kings, 
became  in  1790  unanimous  in  throwing  off  their  author 
ity,  and  in  1792  as  unanimous  in  submitting  to  it.  The 
reasons  given  to  you  in  my  letter  of  the  29th  April,  1789, 
and  my  fears  expressed  in  that  letter  seem  now  to  be  on 
the  eve  of  reality.  The  King  means  wTell,  and  may  per 
haps,  by  his  moderation,  finally  succeed  in  saving  his 
country.  I  hope  much  from  this  circumstance,  but,  alas! 
the  moderation  of  one  who  has  been  so  wounded  and  in 
sulted  seems  to  be  but  a  slender  dependence,  and  yet  I 
verily  believe  it  to  be  the  best,  and,  I  had  almost  said,  the 
only  dependence. 

"  A  courier  arrived  last  night  with  despatches,  which  are 
to  be  communicated  to  the  Assembly  this  morning.  The 
Emperor  informs  the  King  that  he  has  given  orders  to 
General  Bender  (who  commands  in  the  Low  Countries)  to 
protect  the  Electorate  of  Treves  with  all  his  forces.  I  did 
not  mention,  as  I  ought  to  have  done,  that  the  Courts  of 
Berlin  and  Vienna  have  concluded  a  treaty  for  the  protec 
tion  of  the  German  Empire  and  maintenance  of  its  rights. 
You  will  have  seen  that  the  Emperor,  having  adopted  the 
determinations  of  the  Diet  respecting  the  claims  of  those 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  495 

princes  who  have  certain  feudal  rights,  preserved  to  them 
by  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia,  in  Alsace  and  Lorraine,  re 
minded  the  King  that  the  dominion  of  France  over  those 
provinces  is  conceded  by  that  treaty.  The  Dutch  Govern 
ment  has  proposed  a  treaty  with  the  Emperor,  as  sovereign 
of  the  Low  Countries,  for  mutual  aid  and  protection  in  case 
of  insurrections,  which  offer  is  accepted.  All  this  is  ex 
plained  by  the  intrigues  of  France  to  excite  revolt  in  Hol 
land  and  Flanders,  and  the  completion  of  such  a  treaty 
will  place  the  Emperor  at  ease,  should  he  operate  against 
this  country  next  spring." 

"This  morning  [December  3ist]  Bremond  comes,  and 
presents  M.  de  Monciel,  the  newly  appointed  Minister  to 
Mayence,  who  wishes  me  to  point  out  to  him  his  line  of 
march.  I  tell  him  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  have  a 
confidential  person  at  that  spot.  Show  him  how  he  may 
acquire  useful  intelligence,  and  point  out  the  insuffi 
ciency  of  the  present  administration.  Close  by  telling 
him  that  he  will  do  well  to  have  a  correspondence  by 
which  he  will  convey  useful  intelligence  to  the  King.  He 
is  very  desirous  of  this,  and  at  his  instance  I  promise  to 
sound  His  Majesty  on  that  subject.  Dine  with  M.  de  Mont- 
morin,  and  desire  M.  de  Molleville  to  mention  the  matter 
to  the  King,  and  let  me  know  the  result.  Delessart  com 
municated  this  day  to  the  Assembly  a  message  from  the 
Emperor  which  is  decisive  of  his  sentiments.  He  has  or 
dered  his  general,  Bender,  to  defend  the  Electorate  of 
Treves." 

"The  society  to-day  [January  3d]  at  Madame  le  Coul- 
teux's,  receives  me  with  an  air  of  strangeness  not  pleasant. 
Stay  late  at  the  British  Ambassador's,  and  have  a  little 
sparring  match  with  Madame  de  Stael,  who  is  vexed  at  it. 
Bremond  tells  me  that  the  King  is  well  pleased  with  the 
idea  of  receiving  intelligence  direct  from  M.  de  Monciel. 


496  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

I  inform  M.  de  Monciel  that  the  King  accepts  of  his  pro 
posal.  He  is  to  show  me  a  memoire  upon  Switzerland  be 
fore  it  is  presented.  I  tell  Madame  de  Flahaut  that  I  shall 
go  out  to  America  in  the  spring.  This  news  distresses 
her,  and  she  exclaims,  '  Then  I  shall  lose  all  my  friends  at 
the  same  time  ; '  that  the  Bishop  leaves  her  in  a  few  days, 
but  as  yet  she  cannot  tell  me  whither  he  goes.  Dine  here. 
The  Bishop  of  Autun  comes  in,  and  eats  a  cold  dinner. 
We  play  and  the  women  sleep.  He  observes  that  the  as- 
signats  have  reduced  France  to  a  deplorable  condition, 
which  is  true  enough.  I  have  lived  through  one  paper 
system  and  one  revolution,  and  I  find  myself  here  in  the 
midst  of  another  revolution  and  another  paper  system.  I 
have  had  occasion  to  consider  the  subject  for  nearly  twen 
ty  years  (for  it  excited  my  attention  in  the  year  1772),  and 
therefore,  with  a  moderate  share  of  understanding,  must 
by  this  time  have  made  some  progress.  My  situation  and 
connections  here  give  me  a  pretty  near  view  of  what 
passes,  and  in  combining  what  I  see  with  what  I  have  seen, 
I  have  no  shadow  of  a  doubt  but  that  the  paper  money 
will  continue  to  depreciate.  I  hear  that  the  Bishop  goes 
to  England  soon." 

"This  morning  [January  xoth]  M.  Bremond  and  M.  Mon 
ciel  call  on  me,  and  breakfast.  After  they  are  gone  I  read  and 
write  till  my  carriage  is  ready,  then  go  to  the  Minister  of 
the  Marine,  with  whom  I  have  a  conference  on  the  Bishop 
d'Autun's  mission,  and  on  other  public  affairs.  He  tells 
me  he  has  communicated  to  the  Queen  his  sentiments  on 
the  very  impolitic  step  now  taken,  and  that  she  is  sensible 
to  this  confidence.  He  says  the  King  spoke  of  me  in  very 
favorable  terms  the  other  day,  when  he  communicated 
to  him  the  plan  of  a  correspondence  with  M.  de  Monciel. 
I  tell  him  it  is  time  to  arrange  matters  with  the  Emperor, 
etc.  He  says  (and  justly)  that  unless  he  were  sure  that 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  497 

the  King  and  Queen  make  no  imprudent  confidences,  he 
dare  not  risk  himself.  The  risk  is  indeed  great.  Dine 
with  the  British  ambassadress.  She  asks  me  whether  in 
London  I  favor  the  ministerial  or  opposition  party.  I  tell 
her  that  when  a  measure  is  proposed  my  sentiment  de 
pends  on  the  thing,  and  not  on  the  proposer.  Conse 
quently  I  am  for  or  against,  according  to  my  judgment ; 
but  if  they  will  make  Lord  Gower  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  I  shall  then  wish  success  to  his  measures  for  her 
sake. 

"Tell  Madame  de  Tarente  to  inform  the  Queen  from 
me  that  M.  de  Molleville  is  the  only  minister  in  whom 
she  ought  to  have  confidence.  Go  to  the  Porcelaine 
with  her.  We  exchange  little  presents  of  amitie ;  she 
shows  me  a  great  deal,  and  I  find  it  more  convenient 
to  give  china  than  time.  M.  Monciel  tells  me  that  he  has 
conversed  with  M.  Barthelemi  upon  the  Bishop  d'Autun's 
errand  to  London.  He  informs  me  that  the  object  is  to 
make  an  alliance  with  England  in  'order  to  counterbal 
ance  Austria,  and  the  offer  to  England  is  the  Isle  of  France 
and  Tobago.  This  is  a  most  wretched  policy.  Bremond 
tells  me  that  the  Jacobin  party  have  got  hold  of  a  plan  of 
their  enemies  to  work  a  violent  change  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  and  brings  me  a  newspaper  which  contains  it.  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  some  such  thing  was  in  agitation. 
It  is  very  absurd." 

"  Madame  de  Flahaut  asks  me  in  a  very  serious  tone  if 
I  have  advised  M.  de  Molleville  to  oppose  the  Bishop 
d'Autun's  embassy.  I  tell  her  that  I  have.  She  is  very 
angry  at  this,  and  we  have  a  tartish  conversation.  After 
this  I  am  very  easy  and  unembarrassed  in  a  conversation 
both  with  madame  and  the  Bishop.  Marbois  told  me 
that  he  was  in  hopes  the  Bishop's  embassy  would  be 
stopped.  The  Ambassador  of  Venice  wished  to  know  my 
32 


49$  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

opinion  of  the  state  of  affairs.  I  tell  him  that  I  know 
very  little  about  them,  and  that  I  choose  to  know  but  lit 
tle.  He  seems  much  surprised  at  this.  He  tells  me  that 
De  Stael  has  leave  of  absence,  and  that  he  thinks  the  em 
bassy  to  Britain  will  be  stopped." 

"This  morning  [December  i3th]  M.  Bremond  and  M. 
Monciel  call  on  me.  The  former  sent  me  last  night  a 
piece  written  by  Duport  against  Mr.  Pitt.  It  is  a  very 
poor  piece  of  stuff.  They  (the  triumvirate*)  have  given  it 
to  Bremond  to  get  it  printed,  and  he  wishes  to  correct 
some  of  its  badnesses,  but  I  tell  him  not  to  change  a  let 
ter  ;  to  have  it  printed  immediately  and  to  keep  the  orig 
inal,  by  which  means  he  will  have  the  author  in  his  hands, 
for  it  is  written  by  Duport  and  corrected  by  Lameth. 
Bremond  and  Monciel  had  a  conference  with  these  gentle 
men  yesterday  on  the  subject  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun's 
embassy  and,  on  mentioning  the  terms  to  be  proposed, 
Bremond  asked  how  such  a  treaty  could  be  presented  to 
the  Assembly.  The  others  answered  that  the  author 
would  be  hanged,  and  really  I  think  so  too.  Moustier 
comes  in,  and  Monciel  tries  to  make  acquaintance,  but  in 
vain,  till  I  tell  Moustier  in  English  that  he  must  be  ac 
quainted.  M.  de  Laborde  consults  me  on  a  proposition 
made  by  Beaumarchais  to  give  his  only  daughter  (a  most 
charming  girl)  to  Laborde's  son.  He  mentions  to  me 
Beaumarchais'  fortune,  which  is  very  great,  and  he,  La 
borde,  is  ruined.  I  tell  him  that  Beaumarchais  has  a  very 
bad  reputation,  but  that  is  nothing  to  the  girl,  seeing  that 
she  cannot  help  it  ;  that  in  my  country  such  a  marriage 
would  be  detestable  because  we  do  not  marry  for  money, 
but  in  this  country,  where  money  is  everything,  if  his  son 
behaves  well  afterwards  the  world  will  not  complain. 

*  Duport,  Lameth,  and  Bafhave  had  been  known  as  the  triumvirate  since 
the  autumn  of  1789. 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  499 

"  Madame  de  Flahaut  I  find  ill  in  bed  to-day  [January 
i4th],  so  I  stay  here  the  afternoon  and  evening.  The 
Bishop,  who  is  here  part  of  the  time,  goes  off  to-morrow. 
The  Assembly  have  this  day,  upon  a  report  of  their  Dip 
lomatic  Committee,  determined  to  attack  the  Emperor 
unless  he  begs  pardon  by  the  loth  of  February.  The 
Bishop  says  that  the  nation  is  une  parvenue  and,  of  course, 
insolvent.  He  says  that  their  situation  is  such  that  noth 
ing  but  violent  remedies  can  operate,  and  these  must 
either  kill  or  cure.  St.  Foi  says  the  Emperor  will  be  angry, 
but,  having  more  fear  than  anger,  must  submit.  I  ask 
them  what  is  to  become  of  their  finances.  The  Bishop 
says  that  at  a  certain  day,  to  be  fixed,  the  assignats  will  be 
no  longer  a  forced  currency  and  the  holders  will  be  left  to 
lay  them  out  in  lands  as  they  may.  I  think  that  I  never 
heard  more  absurdity  from  men  of  sense  in  all  my  life." 

"  Call  on  M.  de  Montmorin  [January  i6th],  and  con 
verse  on  the  strange  state  of  affairs.  Advise  him  to  write 
a  memoire,  the  heads  of  which  I  mention.  He  promises  to 
do  it.  He  tells  me  that  while  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was  in 
England  he  tried  hard  to  obtain  an  authority  to  offer  a 
treaty  to  England,  which  was,  of  course,  not  granted.  He 
tells  me  the  conversation  which  he  had  on  that  subject 
with  the  Bishop  d'Autun,  who  hopes,  he  says,  to  turn  out 
Pitt,  and  thinks  his  success  certain  if  he  could  have  the 
aid  of  the  Duke  of  Biron.  This  is  curious  enough.  Dine 
with  the  British  ambassador  and  his  wife.  We  are  quite 
snug,  being  but  four  at  table,  his  private  secretary  being 
the  fourth.*  We  converse  very  freely.  She  again  brings 
up  Mr.  Short  (I  know  not  why  she  dislikes  him  so  much), 


*  The  private  secretary  of  Lord  Gower  at  this  time  was  William  Huskisson, 
of  Birch  Moreton  Court,  Worcestershire,  who  met  his  dearh  at  the  opening 
of  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway  at  Parkside,  near  Newton,  on 
September  15, 1830. 


500  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXII. 

and  asks  if  he  will  ever  be  a  great  man  among  us.  I  tell 
her  that  I  think  not,  as  he  is  not  a  public  speaker,  but  he 
may,  notwithstanding,  be  a  very  useful  man  here.  I  say 
this  in  a  tone  which  ends  that  part  of  the  conversation. 
I  find  that  in  this  house  there  is  a  profound  contempt, 
mixed  with  abhorrence,  for  my  friend  the  Bishop  d'Autun, 
and  I  think  the  letters  written  from  it  will  not  facilitate 
the  object  of  his  mission." 

"  Mr.  Short  tells  me  to-day  [January  i8th]  that  by  his 
letters  he  finds  that  the  foreign  appointments  are  un 
doubtedly  made  at  this  moment  in  America.  He  declares 
himself  to  be  totally  ignorant  of  the  persons  to  be  named, 
but  at  the  same  time  he  talks  of  buying  plate  and  employ 
ing  a  maitre  d' hotel,  whence  I  conclude  that  he  is  pretty 
certain  of  being  fixed  here.  I  tell  him  that  I  would  bet 
two  to  one  against  my  being  appointed  anywhere,  and  I 
think  it  most  probable  that,  if  both  he  and  I  are  named,  it 
will  be  to  the  courts  opposite  to  those  we  had  conject 
ured,  and  that  because  the  unlucky  events  are  generally 
those  which  happen.  He  says  he  thinks  it  possible  that 
he  may  be  appointed  to  Holland,  which  would  disappoint 
him  cruelly,  and  he  knows  not  whether  he  would  accept  it. 
Bravo !  M.  Brernond  comes,  and  tells  me  that  Delessart 
has  sent  an  express  yesterday  to  assure  the  Emperor  that 
the  embassy  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun  and  the  violent 
speeches  in  the  Assembly  mean  nothing  at  all.  Molle- 
ville  confirms  this,  because  they  have  now  no  hope  from 
England." 

"This  morning  [January  22d]  I  settle  my  accounts 
with  my  coachman  and  prepare  for  my  departure  for  Eng 
land.  Vicq  d'Azyr  comes  in  while  I  am  at  the  Louvre  and 
tells  me  that  he  has  been  to  my  lodgings,  at  the  request  of 
Her  Majesty,  to  desire  that,  if  I  learn  anything  in  England 
interesting  to  them,  I  would  communicate  it." 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  5OI 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 


Morris  goes  to  England.  Suspicions  aroused  by  the  suddenness  of  his 
departure.  A  political  significance  given  to  it.  Letter  to  Washing 
ton  from  London.  Morris  hears  in  London  of  his  appointment  as 
Minister  to  France  and  receives  his  credentials.  Letter  to  Robert 
Morris  on  the  difficulties  attending  the  mission  to  France.  Dines 
with  the  Count  de  Woronzow.  Paine's  new  publication.  An  even 
ing  with  the  Duchess  of  Gordon.  Conversation  with  Woronzow. 
Bishop  of  Autun's  mission  to  England.  Letter  to  Washington  on 
this  subject.  Mrs.  Darner's  studio.  She  is  at  work  on  a  statue  of 
the  king.  Morris  writes  a  verse  on  her  art. 


AFFAIRS  of  a  strictly  private  character  demanded 
Morris's  attention  in  London  during  the  early 
part  of  1792,  and  forced  him  rather  suddenly  to  leave 
Paris.  Suspicions  were  at  once  aroused  that  his  journey 
had  some  political  significance,  and  it  was  asserted  in 
a  French  gazette,  and  copied  into  an  English  paper,  that 
he  had  gone  over  as  "  agent  for  the  aristocrats."  News  of 
his  nomination  as  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  Court 
of  France  reached  him  shortly  after  his  arrival  at  Lon 
don.  It  was  rumored,  however,  that  the  Senate  had  not 
confirmed  it. 

But  it  is  best  to  return  to  his  own  narration  of  events, 
both  in  England  and  France,  for  he  was  kept  apprised  of 
the  latter,  and  his  advice  in  regard  to  them  was  sought 
throughout  his  stay  in  London  by  those  men  with  whom 
he  had  worked  in  Paris.  The  comparative  safety  of  let- 


502  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXIII. 

ters  in  England  made  it  possible  for  him  to  send  to  Amer 
ica  much  fuller  accounts  of  the  affairs  of  the  European 
world  than  he  could  from  Paris,  and  he  availed  himself  of 
the  opportunity. 

To  Washington  he  wrote  on  the  4th  of  February  the 
following  letter  : 

"DEAR  SIR:  I  wrote  to  you  on  the  2yth  of  December, 
but  there  were  many  things  which  I  did  not  write,  and 
some  of  them  I  will  now  communicate.  At  the  close  of 
the  session  of  the  National  Assembly  a  coalition  was 
brought  about  between  the  Jacobins  and  the  Quatre- 
vingt-neufs.  It  is  proper  to  explain  these  terms.  The 
Jacobins,  so  called  from  their  meeting  at  a  convent  or 
church  of  that  name,  were  then  the  violent  party  ;  the 
others,  who  took  their  name  from  a  club  instituted  in  the 
year  1789,  were  those  who  termed  themselves  moderate 
men.  The  death  of  Mirabeau  (who  was  beyond  all  contro 
versy  one  of  the  most  unprincipled  scoundrels  that  ever 
lived)  left  a  great  chasm  in  the  latter  party.  He  was  then 
sold  to  the  Court,  and  meant  to  bring  back  absolute  au 
thority. 

"The  chiefs  of  the  Jacobins  were  violent  for  two  rea 
sons  :  First,  that  the  Quatre-vingt-neufs  would  not  join 
with  them  seriously  and  heartily — wherefore,  not  being 
able  to  make  head  alone,  they  were  obliged  to  use  the 
populace  and  therefore  to  sacrifice  to  the  populace  ; 
secondly,  that  the  objects  of  their  desire  were  much 
greater,  though  more  remote,  than  those  of  the  first  party 
— for  these  last  had  never  sought  in  the  Revolution  any 
thing  else  than  to  place  themselves  comfortably,  whereas 
the  Jacobins  did  really  at  first  desire  to  establish  a  free 
constitution,  in  the  expectation  that  sooner  or  later  they 
should  be  at  the  head  of  it. 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  503 

"  The  aristocrats,  you  will  observe,  were  reduced  to  in 
significancy  before  the  others  divided.  You  will  remem 
ber  that  the  first  Assembly  had  decreed  that  their  mem 
bers  could  neither  hold  any  office  under  the  Crown,  nor 
yet  be  chosen  to  represent  the  people.  The  first  decree 
was  of  Jacobin  parentage,  to  disappoint  their  enemies, 
who  were  on  the  point  of  succeeding  to  office  ;  the  sec 
ond  decree  was  carried  against  the  secret  inclinations  of 
both.  But  the  consequence  was  that  each  was  seriously 
disappointed,  and,  as  the  Constitution  was  clearly  unable 
to  support  itself,  they  began  to  perceive  that  its  ruin 
might  involve  their  own,  and  therefore  they  formed  a 
coalition  in  which  each  determined  to  make  use  of  the 
other  for  its  own  purposes. 

"  But  you  will  say,  perhaps,  that  both  together  would 
be  of  little  use,  and  this  is  true,  in  a  degree  ;  for,  if  the 
Constitution  had  been  a  practicable  thing,  those  alone  who 
were  in  power  under  it  could  have  any  real  authority. 
But  that  was  not  the  case,  and  therefore  the  plan  of  the 
allies  was  to  induce  a  belief  in  the  Court  that  they  alone 
had  sufficient  popularity  in  the  nation  to  preserve  the 
monarchical  authority  against  the  republican  party,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  to  convince  the  Assembly  that  (having 
in  their  hands  the  royal  authority)  all  favors,  offices,  and 
grants  must  come  through  them.  Thus  they  constituted 
themselves,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression,  the  'gov 
ernment  brokers'  of  the  nation. 

"  I  have  mentioned  the  republican  party.  This  naturally 
grew  up  out  of  the  old  Jacobin  sect,  for  when  the  chiefs* 
finding  that  all  was  nearly  ruined  by  the  want  of  author 
ity,  had  set  themselves  seriously  to  work  to  correct  their 
own  errors,  many  of  their  disciples,  who  believed  what 
their  apostles  had  preached,  and  many  who  saw  in  the  es 
tablishment  of  order  the  loss  of  their  consequence,  deter- 


504  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

mined  to  throw  off  all  submission  to  crowned  heads  as 
being  'unworthy  of  a  free  people,  etc.'  Add  to  this  the 
number  of  *  moody  beggars  starving  for  a  time  of  pell- 
mell,  havoc,  and  confusion.'  It  was  this  coalition  which 
prevented  the  King  from  accepting  the  Constitution  in  a 
manly  manner,  pointing  out  its  capital  faults,  marking 
the  probable  consequences.,  calling  on  them  to  reconsider 
it,  and  declaring  that  his  submission  to  their  decisions 
arose  from  his  belief  that  it  was  the  only  means  to  avoid 
the  horrors  of  civil  war.  They  saw  that  this  conduct 
would  render  them  responsible,  and  although  it  wras  the 
most  likely  means  of  obtaining  a  good  constitution  at  a 
future  day,  and  would  have  bound  the  King  down  to  the 
principles  he  should  then  advance,  yet  they  opposed,  be 
cause  such  good  constitution  would  be  established,  not 
only  without  but  even  against  them,  and  would,  of  course, 
deprive  them  of  those  objects  which  they  were  in  pursuit 
of.  The  King  contended  strongly  for  that  kind  of  accept 
ance  which  I  have  just  mentioned,  but  he  was  b^rne 
down,  being  threatened  with  popular  commotions  fatal  to 
himself  and  his  family,  and  with  that  civil  war  which  he 
most  wished  to  avoid,  as  the  necessary  result  of  such  fatal 
commotions. 

"Shortly  after  his  acceptance  it  became  necessary  to 
appoint  another  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  M.  de  Mont- 
morin  having  insisted  so  strongly  on  retiring  that  the 
King  could  no  longer  with  propriety  ask  him  to  stay.  The 
state  of  the  ministry  was  then  as  follows:  M.  Duport,  the 
Keeper  of  the  Seals,  a  creature  of  and  sworn  adherent 
to  the  triumvirate  ;  which  triumvirate  is  another  Duport, 
Barnave,  and  Alexandre  Lameth — being  the  chief  of  the 
old  Jacobins.  I  say  the  old  Jacobins,  for  the  present 
Jacobins  are  the  republican  party.  This  Keeper  of  the 
Seals  constantly  communicated  everything  that  passed  in 


1792]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  505 

council  to  his  coadjutors.  The  Minister  of  the  Interior,  M. 
Delessart,  was  a  wavering  creature,  one  of  those  of  whom 
Shakespeare  says  that  they  '  renege,  affirm,  and  turn  their 
halcyon  beaks  with  every  gale  and  vary  of  their  masters." 
He  had  been  one  of  M.  Necker's  underlings,  was  brought 
forward  by  him,  and  had  connected  himself  with  the  trium 
virate,  M.  Necker's  enemies,  as  being  the  strongest  party, 
but  still  kept  up  a  good  understanding  with  the  others. 
Duportail,  the  Minister  at  War,  of  whom  I  formerly  spoke 
to  you  when  he  was  appointed  and  foretold  the  conduct 
he  would  pursue  toward  his  creator,  M.  de  Lafayette,  was 
also  completely  subservient  to  the  triumvirate.  But  at 
that  time  he  was  so  much  embroiled  with  the  Assembly 
that  his  speedy  resignation  seemed  unavoidable.  M.  Ber- 
trand  de  Molleville  had  just  been  appointed  to  the  Marine, 
an  office  which  M.  de  Bougainville  had  refused  to  accept. 
He  was  pushed  to  it  by  the  Quatre-vingt-neufs,  whom  he 
despises,  and  told  the  King  that  he  would  not  be  a  mem 
ber  of  a  ministry  many  of  whom  he  knew  to  be  unfaithful 
to  him.  M.  Bertrand  was  brought  forward  by  the  same 
influence,  but  he  is  really  attached  to  the  Crown,  wishes 
ardently  to  obtain  a  good  constitution  for  his  country,  is  an 
intelligent,  sensible,  and  laborious  man — formerly  of  the 
robe — and  the  particular  friend  of  M.  de  Montmorin.  I 
mentioned  to  you  formerly  that  M.  de  Choiseul  *  had  re 
fused  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs.  While  it  was  in  ques 
tion  who  should  be  appointed  to  succeed  M.  de  Montmorin, 
the  King,  of  his  own  head,  named  the  Comte  de  Moustier, 


*  Marie-Gabriel-Florens-Auguste,  Comte  de  Choiseul,  was  born  at  Paris, 
September  27,  1752.  After  a  brilliant  success  in  society  he  travelled  much 
in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  and  gave  to  the  world  an  account  of  all  of 
his  adventures  in  his  ''  Voyage  pittoresque.'"  Louis  XVI.  in  1784  sent  him  to 
Constantinople  as  ambassador.  In  1792  M.  de  Choiseul  was  proscribed,  and 
fled  to  Russia.  He  returned  to  France  in  1802,  and  died  there  in  1817,  aged 
seventy-four  years. 


506  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

and  wrote  him  a  letter  on  the  subject  which  Moustier 
has  since  shown  to  me.  He  had  the  prudence  to  write 
from  Berlin  to  decline  accepting  until  after  he  should  be 
in  Paris.  When  he  arrived  in  that  city  the  King  told  him 
that  he  could  not  give  him  the  office,  because  he  was  con 
sidered  as  an  aristocrat.  You  will  observe  that  the  coalition 
had  been  at  work  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  here  I  must  make 
a  digression.  The  plan  was  that,  as  soon  as  circumstances 
would  permit,  a  Minister  at  War  should  be  appointed, 
faithful  to  the  King,  and  then  Bougainville  take  the  Ma 
rine,  Bertrand  be  appointed  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  and  De- 
lessart  either  kept  in  or  turned  out  as  he  should  behave. 
This  plan  was  not  known  to  the  coalition  at  all,  but  they 
well  knew  that  if  Moustier  got  into  place  it  would  be  a 
step  towards  the  destruction  of  their  influence  and  author 
ity  ;  they  therefore  assured  the  King  that  they  could  not 
answer  for  consequences,  threatened  him  with  popular 
commotions,  with  opposition  in  the  Assembly,  and  the  like, 
so  that  at  last  he  gave  up  his  nomination  and  explained 
the  matter  to  Moustier.  A  long  interregnum  ensued  in 
that  office,  and  as  M.  de  Montmorin  absolutely  refused  to 
continue  any  longer,  the  portefeuille  was  given  to  M.  De- 
lessart,  and  after  some  time  the  Comte  de  Segur  was  ap 
pointed.  He  accepted  in  the  belief  of  two  things,  in  both 
of  which  he  was  mistaken  :  one  that  he  had  the  confi 
dence  of  the  King  and  Queen,  but  he  had  never  taken  the 
right  way  to  obtain  either  their  confidence  or  that  of 
others  ;  the  second  article  of  his  creed  was  that  the  trium 
virate  (his  patrons)  commanded  a  majority  in  the  Assem 
bly.  He  was  undeceived  as  to  the  latter  point  immediately, 
and  therefore  threw  up  the  office  and  went  out  of  town. 

"Under  these  circumstances  M.  de  Narbonne  tried  hard 
to  obtain  that  place,  and  as  I  have  mentioned  his  name  and 
that  of  M.  de  Choiseul,  I  will  in  this  place  mention  that  of 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  5O/ 

the  Abbe  de  Perigord,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Autun.  These 
three  are  young  men  of  high  family,  men  of  wit,  and  men 
of  pleasure.  The  two  former  were  men  of  fortune,  but  had 
spent  it.  They  were  intimates  all  three,  and  had  run  the 
career  of  ambition  together  to  retrieve  their  affairs.  On 
the  score  of  morals  neither  of  them  is  exemplary.  The 
bishop  is  particularly  blamed  on  that  head  ;  not  so  much 
for  adultery,  because  that  was  common  enough  among  the 
clergy  of  high  rank,  but  for  the  variety  and  publicity  of 
his  amours,  for  gambling,  and,  above  all,  for  stock-jobbing 
during  the  ministry  of  M.  de  Calonne,  with  whom  he  was 
on  the  best  terms — and  therefore  had  opportunities  which 
his  enemies  say  he  made  no  small  use  of.  However,  I  do 
not  believe  in  this,  and  I  think  that,  except  his  gallantries 
and  a  mode  of  thinking  rather  too  liberal  for  a  churchman, 
the  charges  are  unduly  aggravated.  It  was  by  the  bishop's 
intrigues  principally  that  M.  de  Choiseul  was  formerly 
nominated  to  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs,  but  he  preferred 
staying  at  Constantinople  till  he  could  see  which  way 
things  would  settle,  and  to  that  effect  he  prevailed  on  the 
Vizier,  or,  rather,  the  Reis  Effendi,  to  write  that  he  thought 
it  much  for  the  interest  of  France  that  he  should  stay  for 
three  years  longer  in  that  city.  M.  de  Narbonne  is  said 
by  some  to  be  the  son  of  Louis  the  Fifteenth  by  Madame 
Adelaide  his  own  daughter,  and  one  of  the  present  King's 
aunts.  Certain  it  is  that  the  old  lady,  now  at  Rome,  has 
always  protected  and  befriended  him  in  the  warmest 
manner. 

"  In  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  he,  a  great  anti- 
Neckerist  though  the  lover  en  titre  of  Madame  de  Stael, 
M.  Necker's  daughter,  was  not  a  little  opposed  to  the 
Revolution,  and  there  was  afterwards  some  coldness  be 
tween  him  and  the  Bishop,  partly  on  political  accounts, 
and  partly  because  he  (in  common  with  the  rest  of  the 


508  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

world)  believed  the  Bishop  to  be  too  well  with  his  mistress. 
By  the  by,  she  tells  me  that  it  is  not  true,  and  of  course 
I,  who  am  a  charitable  man,  believe  her.  This  coldness 
was  however  at  length  removed  by  the  interference  of 
their  common  friends,  and  the  Bishop  labored  hard  to  get 
his  friend  Narbonne  appointed  to  the  office  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  But  the  King  would  not  agree  to  this,  because  of 
the  great  indiscretion  of  Madame  de  Stael.  M.  Delessart 
was  therefore  appointed,  he  being  very  glad  to  get  rid  of 
the  Department  of  the  Interior,  where  he  had  everything  to 
apprehend  from  want  of  power,  want  of  order,  and  want 
of  bread.  The  next  step  was  to  bring  M.  de  Narbonne 
forward  to  fill  the  place  of  M.  Duportail,  and  to  this  M. 
Delessart  gave  his  hearty  assistance  by  way  of  compen 
sating  for  the  disappointment  in  the  other  department. 
Finally  the  Interior  or  Home  Department  was  filled  by  a 
M.  Cahier  de  Gerville — of  whom  I  know  very  little,  nor 
is  it  necessary  that  I  should. 

"This  ministry,  extremely  disjointed  in  itself,  and  strong 
ly  opposed  by  the  Assembly,  possesses,  on  the  whole,  but  a 
moderate  share  of  talents  ;  for  though  the  Comte  de  Nar 
bonne  is  a  man  of  wit  and  a  very  pleasant,  lively  fellow,  he 
is  by  no  means  a  man  of  business ;  and  though  M.  Ber- 
trand  de  Molleville  has  talents,  yet,  according  to  the  old 
proverb,  *  One  swallow  never  makes  a  summer.'  Such  as 
it  is,  everyone  of  them  is  convinced  that  the  Constitution 
is  good  for  nothing  ;  and  unfortunately  there  are  many  of 
them  so  indiscreet  as  to  disclose  that  opinion,  when  at  the 
same  time  they  declare  their  determination  to  support  and 
execute  it,  which  is,  in  fact,  the  only  rational  mode  (which 
now  remains)  of  pointing  out  its  defects.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  tell  you  that  some  members  of  the  National  Assembly  are 
in  the  pay  of  England,  for  that  you  will  easily  suppose. 
Brissot  de  Warville  is  said  to  be  one  of  them,  and, -indeed 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  509 

(whether  from  corrupt  or  other  motives  I  know  not),  his 
conduct  tends  to  injure  his  own  country  and  benefit  that 
of  their  ancient  foes  in  a  very  eminent  degree.  The  situ 
ation  of  their  finances  is  such  that  every  considerate  per 
son  sees  the  impossibility  of  going  on  in  the  present  way, 
and  as  a  change  of  system  after  so  many  pompous  decla 
mations  is  not  a  little  dangerous  among  a  people  so  wild 
and  ungoverned,  it  has  appeared  to  them  that  a  war  would 
furnish  some  plausible  pretext  for  measures  of  a  very  de 
cisive  nature,  in  which  state  necessity  will  be  urged  in  the 
teeth  of  policy,  humanity,  and  justice.  Others  consider  a 
war  as  the  means  of  obtaining  for  the  government  the 
eventual  command  of  a  disciplined  military  force,  which 
may  be  used  to  restore  order  ;  in  other  words,  to  bring 
back  despotism,  and  then  they  expect  that  the  King  will 
give  the  nation  a  constitution  which  they  have  neither  the 
wisdom  to  form  nor  the  virtue  to  adopt  for  themselves. 

"  Others,  again,  suppose  that  in  case  of  a  war  there  will 
be  such  a  leaning  from  the  King  towards  his  brother,  from 
the  Queen  towards  the  Emperor,  from  the  nobility  (the 
very  few)  who  remain,  towards  the  mass  of  their  brethren 
who  have  left  the  kingdom,  that  the  bad  success  naturally 
to  arise  from  the  opposition  of  undisciplined  mobs  to 
regular  armies  may  be  easily  imputed  to  treasonable  coun 
sels,  and  the  people  be  prevailed  on  to  banish  them  alto 
gether  and  set  up  a  Federal  Republic.  Lastly,  the  aristo 
crats,  burning  with  the  lust  of  vengeance,  most  of  them 
poor  and  all  of  them  proud,  hope  that,  supported  by  for 
eign  armies,  they  shall  be  able  to  return  victorious,  and 
re-establish  that  species  of  despotism  most  suited  to  their 
own  cupidity.  It  happens,  therefore,  that  the  whole  na 
tion,  though  with  different  views,  are  desirous  of  war  ;  for 
it  is  proper,  in  such  general  statements,  to  take  in  the 
spirit  of  the  country,  which  has  ever  been  warlike. 


510  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIIL 

"  I  have  told  you  long  ago  that  the  Emperor  is  by  no 
means  an  enterprising  or  warlike  prince.  I  must  now,  in 
confirmation  of  that,  inform  you  that  in  the  famous  con 
ference  at  Pilnitz  *  he  was  taken  in  by  the  King  of  Prus 
sia,  for  he  came  prepared  to  higgle  about  the  nature  and 
extent  of  the  succor  to  be  given  and  forces  to  be  em 
ployed  ;  but  the  King  cut  the  matter  short  by  telling  him 
that  the  difference  in  the  extent  of  their  respective  do 
minions,  and  a  variety  of  other  circumstances,  would  jus 
tify  him  in  demanding  greater  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
Emperor,  but  that  he  would  meet  him  on  the  ground  of 
perfect  equality.  In  consequence  of  this  the  Emperor 
was  obliged  to  accede,  but  he  did  so  in  the  view  and  the 
wish  to  do  nothing.  When,  therefore,  the  King  accepted 
the  Constitution,  he  chose  to  consider  that  as  a  reason  why 
foreign  princes  should  not  interfere.  The  King  of  Prussia, 
however,  gave  to  the  King  personal  assurances  of  his  good 
will  and  brotherly  attachment,  and  of  this  offered  substantial 
proofs.  The  King's  true  interest  (and  he  thinks  so)  seems 
to  consist  in  preserving  the  peace,  and  leaving  the  Assem 
bly  to  act  as  they  may  think  proper,  which  will  demon 
strate  the  necessity  of  restoring  in  a  great  degree  the  royal 
authority.  The  faction  opposed  to  him  are  very  sensible 
of  this,  which  forms  an  additional  reason  for  driving 
everything  to  extremity,  and  therefore,  with  a  view  to  de 
stroy  every  root  and  fibre  of  ancient  systems,  they  have 
imagined  to  court  the  alliance  of  Great  Britain  and  of  Prus 
sia.  In  consequence  the  Bishop  of  Autun  has  been  sent 
to  this  country,  and,  if  my  information  be  good,  is  author 
ized  to  propose  the  cession  of  Islands  of  France  and  Bour 
bon,  and  the  Island  of  Tobago,  as  the  price  of  an  alliance 
against  the  Emperor.  This  has  a  direct  tendency  to  break 
the  family  compact  with  Spain,  who  has  long  been  courted 
*  Conference  at  Pilnitz,  August,  1791. 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  511 

by  Britain  ;  for  it  is  evident  that  this  country  will  not  em 
bark  in  a  contest  which  is  to  do  France  any  good,  and 
therefore  the  game  of  Mr.  Pitt  is  as  clear  as  the  sun,  and 
suits  exactly  his  temper  and  disposition.  He  has  only  to 
receive  the  offers  made,  and  send  copies  to  Vienna  and 
Madrid  by  way  of  supporting  his  negotiations,  particularly 
with  the  latter.  He  can  offer  them  also  the  guarantee  of 
their  dominions  and  rights  against  us,  and  by  this  means 
we  should  find  ourselves  all  at  once  surrounded  by  hostile 
nations. 

"  The  Minister  of  the  Marine  opposed  violently  in  coun 
cil  this  mission,  stated  the  consequences,  and  obtained 
some  useful  restrictions.  M.  de  Warville  proposed  in  the 
Diplomatic  Committee  the  cession  of  Dunkirk  and  Calais 
to  England  as  pledges  of  the  fidelity  of  France  to  the  en 
gagements  which  she  might  take.  You  will  judge  from 
this  specimen  of  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  faction  to 
which  he  belongs,  and  I  am  sure  the  integrity  of  your 
heart  will  frown  with  indignant  contempt  when  I  tell  you 
that  among  the  chiefs  of  that  faction  are  men  who  owe  all 
to  the  personal  bounty  of  the  King. 

"This  mission  of  the  Bishop  d'Autun  has  produced 
something  like  a  schism  in  the  coalition.  The  party  of 
Lameth  and  Barnave  are  strongly  opposed  to  it.  M.  De- 
lessart,  who  had  adopted  the  scheme  on  the  representa 
tion  of  the  Bishop  (with  whom  it  originated)  and  his 
friends,  abandoned  it  on  the  representation  of  the  others, 
and,  two  days  before  I  left  Paris,  express  was  sent  to 
assure  the  Emperor  that,  notwithstanding  appearances, 
they  meant  him  no  harm.  In  effect,  they  were  again  going 
to  endeavor  at  an  alliance  of  the  nation  with  him  upon  a 
plan  which  was  set  on  foot  about  three  months  ago  by 
those  who  afterwards  fell  into  the  plan  of  an  alliance  with 
Britain.  You  may  judge  from  hence  how  much  depend- 


512  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

ence  is  to  be  placed  on  these  new-fangled  statesmen.  The 
King  and  Queen  are  wounded  to  the  soul  by  these  rash 
measures.  They  have,  I  believe,  given  all  needful  assur 
ance  to  the  Emperor  and  the  King  of  Spain.  A  confiden 
tial  person  has  desired  me  to  assure  you,  on  their  behalf, 
that  they  are  very  far  from  wishing  to  change  the  system 
of  French  politics  and  abandon  their  old  allies,  and  there 
fore,  if  any  advantage  is  taken  of  the  present  advances  to 
Britain,  that  you  will  consider  them  as  originating  merely 
in  the  madness  of  the  moment,  and  not  as  proceeding 
from  them,  or  as  meeting  with  their  approbation,  but  the 
contrary. 

"  I  shall  send  this  letter  in  such  way  as  promises  the 
greatest  safety,  and  I  must  entreat  you,  my  dear  sir,  to 
destroy  it  for  fear  of  accidents.  You  will  feel  how  impor 
tant  it  is  to  them  that  this  communication  be  not  disclosed. 
It  is  merely  personal  from  them  to  you,  and  expressive  of 
sentiments  which  can  have  no  action  until  they  have  some 
authority." 

On  the  6th  of  February  Morris  says  in  the  diary  :  "Mr. 
Constable  calls  on  me  this  morning,  and  tells  me  I  am  ap 
pointed  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  Court  of  France. 
Mr.  Penn,  where  I  dine,  congratulates  me  on  my  appoint 
ment,  but  expresses  his  regret  that  it  is  not  to  this  coun 
try."  How  he  regarded  his  appointment  himself  appears 
in  the  following  letter  to  Robert  Morris,  dated  February 
15,  1792  : 

"  I  feel,  as  I  ought,  the  honor  conferred  by  the  President 
in  making  the  nomination,  and,  whatever  may  be  its  fate 
in  the  Senate,  I  shall  always  count  the  suffrage  among  the 
most  flattering  events  of  my  life — as  a  mark  of  confi 
dence  from  the  person  in  the  world  whose  good  opinion  I 
consider  as  most  estimable.  I  find  that  no  decision  was 
made  down  to  the  morning  of  the  23d  of  December,  being, 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  513 

in  the  whole,  eighteen  days  that  it  had  hung  by  the  eye 
lids.  A  mischievous  consequence  of  the  delay  is  that  for 
eign  powers  will  suppose  there  is  a  great  division  of  sen 
timent,  and,  of  course,  the  minister  will  have  less  weight, 
at  least  for  some  time,  and  if  a  bare  majority  should  event 
ually  approve,  that  circumstance  also  will  operate  in  the 
same  way.  To  obviate  this  evil  so  far  as  the  other  gentle 
men  may  be  concerned,  I  have  declared  here  to  those  who 
have  wondered  at  the  delay  that  I  believe  the  exceptions, 
if  any,  are  against  me.  It  has  been  reported  that  the  ex 
ception  was  to  making  any  appointment  whatever.  But  I 
have  declared  my  belief  that  this  was  not  the  case,  for  you 
will  observe  that  such  opinion  presupposes  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  precipitate,  whereas  the  law  passed  on  that  sub 
ject  is  of  long  standing.  On  the  whole,  I  have  thought  it 
best  to  make  myself  the  scape-goat  of  the  flock,  because 
if  disapproved  of  it  will  then  appear  all  natural  enough, 
and  if  appointed  I  must  work  through  the  difficulties  as 
well  as  I  can.  They  will  be  less  important  to  my  country 
the  other  side  of  the  channel,  and  my  great  object  is  her 
interest. 

"  The  mission  to  France  must  be  a  stormy  one,  let  it  fall 
on  whom  it  may.  You  will  have  seen  that  every  charac 
ter  both  in  and  out  of  their  country  is  very  rudely  han 
dled  by  their  journalists.  You  will  observe  that  it  was  not 
in  the  nature  of  things  to  make  an  appointment  from 
America  which  would  have  been  unexceptionable,  and  to 
have  made  none  would  have  been  offensive,  for  the  con 
clusion  would  have  been  that  America  looked  with  con 
tempt  at  their  present  situation.  That  kingdom  is  split 
up  into  parties  whose  inveteracy  of  hatred  is  hardly  con 
ceivable,  and  the  royalists  and  aristocrats  consider  Amer 
ica  and  the  Americans  as  having  occasioned  their  mis 
fortunes.  The  former  charge  it  upon  us  as  ingratitude, 
33 


514  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

seeing  that  it  was  the  King  who  stepped  forward  to  our 
relief.  Should  this  party  get  the  better  in  the  struggle 
there  are  very  few  Americans  who  would  (for  the  present) 
be  well  received.  On  the  other  hand,  the  republicans 
consider  everything  short  of  downright  democracy  as  an 
abandonment  of  political  principle  in  America.  To  stand 
well  with  all  parties  is  impossible,  but  it  is  possible,  and 
merely  so,  to  stand  well  with  the  best  people  in  all  parties 
without  greatly  offending  the  others,  and  in  order  to  do 
this  a  man  must  make  up  his  mind  to  hear  the  virtuous 
traduced  by  the  wicked,  and  to  listen  unruffled  to  calumny, 
folly,  and  even  to  insanity.  I  am  in  hopes,  however,  that 
things  will  ere  long  come  to  some  more  steady  bearing, 
though  the  present  prospect  is  by  no  means  flattering  or 
fair." 

As  soon  as  Jefferson's  despatches  and  his  credentials  as 
minister  reached  him  at  London,  Morris  set  about  mak 
ing  purchases  and  arrangements  for  the  furnishing  of 
his  official  residence  in  the  style  and  completeness  which 
he  deemed  it  necessary  that  a  minister  from  the  young 
republic  to  the  old  monarchy  should  assume.  A  coach 
and  four  horses,  and  all  the  trappings  thereunto  apper 
taining,  were  among  his  purchases,  together  with  large 
supplies  of  silver  and  pipes  of  Malmsey  and  Madeira  wine. 

"  I  dine  with  the  Russian  minister,  Count  Woronzow,* 
to-day,"  resumes  the  diary  for  February  i9th.  "After 
dinner  the  count  tells  me  that  he  is  persuaded  that  Great 
Britain  will  court  the  United  States,  in  order  to  deprive 

*  Count  Alexandra  de  Woronzow  was  President  of  the  Department  of  Com 
merce  under  Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  and  in  this  capacity  signed  several 
treaties  with  England  and  the  different  Northern  powers.  Subsequently  he 
became  ambassador  at  London.  Under  Alexander  he  was  made  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  Chancellor  of  the  Empire.  Highly  educated,  and  with 
great  ability,  he  was,  nevertheless,  exceedingly  irascible,  and  not  always 
cautious  in  guarding  diplomatic  secrets.  He  died  in  1805. 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  515 

France  of  the  West  India  Islands.  He  says  that  Mr.  Pitt's 
force  consists  in  finesse  ;  that  the  Spanish  ambassador 
managed  wretchedly  in  the  course  of  the  armament  against 
his  country,  and  that  the  Comte  de  Florida  Blanca,  though 
an  able  courtier,  is  a  wretched  minister,  all  which  he  prom 
ises  to  explain  to  me  at  another  time.  He  is  a  sensible, 
well-informed  man.  He  tells  me  that  it  is  impossible  that 
the  Emperor  and  King  of  Prussia  should  agree  ;  that  the 
Cabinet  of  the  latter  power  is  deeply  intriguing,  and  will, 
in  concert  with  Mr.  Pitt,  do  everything  that  is  possible  to 
prevent  the  French  affairs  from  being  settled.  He  speaks 
well  of  the  Emperor,  and,  as  he  says,  from  personal  ac 
quaintance,  and  from  observance  of  his  administration  in 
Milan  and  his  conduct  since  the  death  of  his  brother." 

"  I  read  Paine's  new  publication  to-day  [February  22d], 
and  tell  him  that  I  am  really  afraid  he  will  be  punished. 
He  seems  to  laugh  at  this,  and  relies  on  the  force  he  has 
in  the  nation.  He  seems  to  become  every  hour  more 
drunk  with  self-conceit.  It  seems,  however,  that  his  work 
excites  but  little  emotion,  and  rather  raises  indignation. 
I  tell  him  that  the  disordered  state  of  things  in  France 
works  against  all  schemes  of  reformation  both  here  and 
elsewhere.  He  declares  that  the  riots  and  outrages  in 
France  are  nothing  at  all.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  con 
test  such  declarations.  I  tell  him,  therefore,  that  as  I  am 
sure  he  does  not  mean  what  he  says,  I  shall  not  dispute  it. 
Visit  the  Duchess  of  Gordon,  who  tells  me  that  she  sup 
poses  I  give  Paine  his  information  about  America,  and 
speaks  very  slightly  of  our  situation,  as  being  engaged  in  a 
civil  war  with  the  Indians.  I  smile,  and  tell  her  that  Brit 
ain  is  also  at  war  with  Indians,  though  in  another  hemi 
sphere.  General  Murray  observes  that  the  prosperity  of  a 
nation  can  best  be  determined  by  the  state  of  the  funds, 
and  that  ours  are  very  high.  I  confirm  this  observation, 


516  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

which  silences  her  grace.  She  asks  me  afterwards  what 
the  Americans  think  of  Mr.  Pitt.  I  tell  her  that  there  can 
be  but  one  opinion  on  that  subject  everywhere,  viz.,  that 
he  is  a  very  able  man.  She  says  she  understands  that  he 
is  very  high  in  France,  which  even  wishes  an  alliance,  but 
that  cannot  be,  and  then  asks  my  opinion  of  Bishop  d'Au- 
tun,  who  is,  she  is  told,  a  very  profligate  fellow.  I  tell  her 
he  is  a  sensible,  pleasant  man,  his  morals  not  exemplary, 
but  that  matter  much  exaggerated." 

"  Dine  with  the  Count  WorouzowenfamiHe  [March  6th]. 
He  tells  me  that  it  is  impossible  the  King  of  Prussia  should 
join  heartily  with  the  Emperor.  He  had  informed  me  last 
Sunday  that  the  King  was  offered  by  the  emigrant  princes 
a  considerable  arrondissement  on  the  Lower  Rhine,  from 
the  Elector  Palatine's  dominions,  and  to  make  that  Elec 
torate  whole  by  the  cession  of  Alsace.  He  sent  immedi 
ately  to  the  Emperor,  and  his  messenger,  Bischoffswerder, 
offered  to  join  in  procuring  the  addition  of  French  Flan 
ders  to  the  Imperial  Low  Countries,  but  the  Emperor  re 
plied  that  if  he  did  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  France  it 
should  be  as  a  friend  and  not  for  the  spoil.  He  tells  me 
that  the  Bishop  d'Autun  has  offered  a  cession  of  the  Island 
of  Tobago,  the  demolition  of  Cherbourg,  and  an  extension 
of  the  treaty  of  commerce,  if  England  will,  in  case  of  a 
war  with  the  Emperor,  preserve  a  strict  neutrality.  He 
received  for  answer  that  England  could  not  take  any  en 
gagement  whatever  respecting  the  affairs  of  France.  He 
adds  that  the  Bishop  is  not  now  received,  because  he 
boasted  of  a  credit  for  ^40,000,  which  was  to  do  wonders, 
and  because  he  has  frequented  constantly  the  Dissenters. 
He  tells  me  that  young  Laborde  has  written  a  letter,  which 
he  saw,  mentioning  that  they  would  try  the  Cabinets  of 
London  and  Berlin.  He  says  that  the  British  Cabinet 
mean  to  establish  the  independence  of  Santo  Domingo 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS. 

and  the  other  French  islands,  wherefore  the  offer  of  To 
bago  does  not  weigh  ;  that  they  expect  the  demolition  of 
Cherbourg  by  the  sea  in  its  present  unfinished  state,  and, 
at  any  rate,  are  indifferent  about  it  while  the  marine  of 
France  remains  in  its  present  condition  ;  and  as  to  a  treaty 
of  commerce,  the  want  of  one  is  now  supplied  by  contra 
band,  which  is  vastly  easy.  But  the  possession  by  France 
of  the  Low  Countries  is  of  the  greatest  moment,  and  not 
to  be  permitted.  The  Comte  de  Woronzow  inveighed 
against  M.  de  Lafayette  in  the  strongest  terms  I  ever 
heard.  He  said  that  though  bred  a  military  man,  and 
obliged  sometimes  to  order  punishments,  he  never  could 
behold  an  execution,  his  nature  recoiling  from  the  view 
of  human  misery  ;  but  yet  if  Lafayette  and  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  were  to  be  broken  on  the  wheel  at  Falmouth, 
and  he  had  no  means  of  seeing  it  done  but  by  going 
thither  on  foot,  he  would  set  out  immediately.  This  is' 
strong  language." 

"This  morning  [March  isth]  M.  Jaubert  breakfasted 
with  me.  He  came  from  Paris  to  consult  me  on  the  part 
of  M.  de  Monciel,  whether  he  should  accept  a  place  in  the 
ministry  and  which  I  opine  is  for  the  Foreign  Affairs 
comme  la  seule  faisable.  He  tells  me  that  Narbonne  has 
been  guilty  of  notorious  peculations,  and,  after  having 
sold  contracts  for  the  army,  has  allowed  to  the  contractors 
the  depreciation  of  their  money.  He  is  to  be  turned  out, 
and  M.  de  Graave  is  among  the  persons  talked  of  to  replace 
him.  Delessart  will  go  out  as  the  price  of  his  duplicity, 
and  Cahier  de  Gerville  for  impotence.  Monciel  has  re 
fused  any  place  until,  through  M.  Bertrand,  he  was  sure 
that  the  King  approved  personally,  and  then  he  preferred 
rather  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  but  waits  for  my 
opinion  and  advice.  We  have  a  good  deal  of  conversa 
tion  respecting  the  state  of  parties,  etc.  He  tells  me  that 


518  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXIII. 

the  Assembly  is  very  low,  and  would  have  been  quite 
down  but  that  Narbonne's  intrigues  have  contributed  to 
give  them  a  little  lift,  at  the  expense  of  order  and  good 
government,  in  order  to  feather  his  nest.  He  is  well  with 
Brissot  and  the  rest  of  that  wretched  and  pernicious 
faction.  They  desire  to  know  of  me  what  conduct  is 
to  be -pursued  in  order  to  arrive  at  a  good  government.  I 
do  not  choose  to  enter  deeply  into  this  subject  for  the 
present,  because  so  much  depends  on  circumstances,  but 
say,  in  general,  that  the  first  step  is  to  produce  a  general 
conviction  that  the  present  Constitution  is  good  for  noth 
ing.  He  says  that  this  is  already  done,  and  that  peo 
ple  in  general  seem  to  think  that  the  kingdom  is  ruined 
past  redemption.  I  do  not,  however,  think  that  opinion  is 
even  near  to  the  needful  point.  I  tell  him  that  they  must 
have  for  Minister  of  War  a  very  determined  fellow  ;  that 
such  a  man  will,  like  any  other,  work  his  own  ruin,  but  he 
will  effect  the  beginning  of  good.  The  Chevalier  de 
Graave  will  do  no  good  in  that  place  ;  at  least,  I  think  not." 
"Visit  Lord  Lansdowne  [March  i6th].  He  speaks  of 
peculations  in  ministers  as  a  thing  of  minor  importance, 
although  he  himself  detests  it,  and  observes  that  even 
in  my  virtuous  country  it  prevailed  to  a  great  extent.  I 
assure  him  very  seriously  and  very  truly  that  he  is  misin 
formed.  He  says  that  Mr.  Pitt  and  the  King  are  not  well 
together,  and  have  not  been  so  for  a  long  time  past.  The 
cause  is  the  Prince's  debts.  He  gives  me  two  versions  of 
that  story,  one  of  which  is  that  Mr.  Pitt,  having  been 
pressed  by  the  sovereign  on  this  subject,  had  declined 
with  some  offensive  expressions.  This  wounded  the  fa 
ther  and  the  mother,  who  declares  it  to  be  the  great  and 
only  object  of  her  life  to  conciliate  the  family  differences. 
Mr.  Pitt's  friends,  on  the  contrary,  declare  the  whole  story 
to  be  an  abominable  falsehood,  and  add  that  if  there  be 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  519 

any  one  subject  more  particularly  offensive  than  another 
to  His  Majesty,  it  is  the  mention  of  the  Prince ;  that  it 
never  was  a  question  with  the  King  to  pay  those  debts ; 
that  the  Chancellor  did  indeed  once  say  something  of  the 
kind,  but  he  is  a  strange  sort  of  man  and  nobody  minds 
him." 

The  Bishop  of  Autun's  mission  to  England  formed  the 
subject  of  a  letter  from  Morris  to  Washington,  dated 
March  iyth.  Referring  to  a  former  letter  in  which  he  had 
spoken  of  the  measures  pursued  by  different  parties,  in 
cluding  the  mission  of  the  Bishop  of  Autun,  Morris  con 
tinues  :  "As  the  Bishop  d' Autun  has  now  got  back  to 
Paris,  it  may  be  well  to  communicate  the  result.  His  re 
ception  was  bad,  for  three  reasons  :  First,  that  the  Court 
look  with  horror  and  apprehension  at  the  scenes  acting  in 
France,  of  which  they  consider  him  as  a  prime  mover  ; 
secondly,  that  his  reputation  is  offensive  to  persons  who 
pique  themselves  on  decency  of  manners  and  deportment ; 
and,  lastly,  because  he  was  so  imprudent  when  he  first 
arrived  as  to  propagate  the  idea  that  he  should  corrupt 
the  members  of  administration,  and  afterwards  by  keep 
ing  company  with  leading  characters  among  the  Dissenters, 
and  other  similar  circumstances.  He  renewed  the  im 
pression  made  before  his  departure  from  Paris,  that  he 
meant  to  intrigue  with  the  discontented.  His  public  re 
ception,  however,  furnishes  no  clue  to  decide  on  the  suc 
cess  of  his  mission,  because  the  former  might  have  been 
very  bad  and  the  latter  very  good.  The  fact,  however,  is 
that  he  could  offer-  nothing  worthy  of  their  acceptance,  and 
that  what  he  asked  was  of  a  nature  not  to  be  granted.  His 
offer  was  confined  to  a  cession  of  Tobago,  a  demolition  of 
the  works  of  Cherbourg,  and  an  extension  of  the  commer 
cial  treaty.  He  asked  a  strict  neutrality  in  case  of  a  war 
with  the  Emperor.  Now  you  will  observe  that  no  Court 


£20  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

could  prudently  treat  with  France  in  her  present  situation, 
seeing  that  nobody  can  promise  in  her  name  otherwise 
than  as  godfathers  and  godmothers  do  at  a  christening, 
and  how  such  promises  are  kept  everybody  knows.  Con 
vinced  of  this,  the  Bishop  never  told  his  errand  to  Lord 
Gower,  the  British  ambassador  at  Paris,  who  mentioned 
that  circumstance  to  me  as  extraordinary,  but  yet  as  so  far 
agreeable  in  that  he  was  glad  not  to  have  been  called  on 
for  letters  of  introduction. 

"  Respecting  Tobago,  I  must  make  a  digression.  It  is 
now  a  long  time  since  it  was  mentioned  to  me,  in  Paris, 
that  some  of  the  colonists  of  Santo  Domingo  had  come 
hither  to  make  overtures  to  Mr.  Pitt.  Since  that  period 
I  learnt  that  the  French  ministry  were  in  possession  of 
documents  to  prove  not  only  that  he  fomented  the  dis 
turbances  in  France,  but  that  he  was  in  deep  intrigues 
with  regard  to  that  colony.  The  particular  proofs  are  not 
known  to  me,  so  that  I  cannot  speak  positively.  Neither 
can  I  vouch  for  what  I  have  learnt  further  on  that  subject 
within  this  month,  but  I  am  assured  that  it  is  Mr.  Pitt's  in 
tention  to  bring  about,  if  he  can,  the  independence  of  Santo 
Domingo.  Mr.  Clarkson,  the  great  negro  advocate,  is 
mentioned  to  me  as  his  agent  for  this  business  at  Paris, 
and  the  conduct  of  a  part  of  the  Assembly  in  opposing 
succor  to  that  island  seems  corroborative  of  such  idea. 
This  then  being  the  case,  or  supposing  it  to  be  so,  the 
offer  of  Tobago  was  too  trifling  to  attract  Mr.  Pitt's  notice, 
even  if  unconnected  with  other  circumstances.  By  the 
bye,  my  informant  tells  me  also  that  Mr.  Pitt  means  to 
coax  us  into  the  adoption  of  his  plan  respecting  Santo 
Domingo  ;  and  I  learn  from  another  quarter  that  he 
means  to  offer  us  his  mediation  for  a  peace  with  the  Ind 
ians.  If  all  this  be  true,  his  game  is  evident.  The  medi 
ation  is  to  be  with  us  a  price  for  adopting  his  plans,  and 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  521 

with  the  Indian  tribes  a  means  of  constituting  himself 
their  patron  and  protector.  It  may  be  proper  to  combine 
all  this  with  the  late  division  of  Canada  and  the  present 
measures  for  military  colonization  of  the  upper  coun 
try,  and,  above  all,  with  what  may  come  from  Mr.  Ham 
mond. 

"  I  return  to  Santo  Domingo.  If  such  be  Mr.  Pitt's 
scheme,  although  we  shall  not,  I  presume,  engage  in  or 
countenance  it,  yet  the  success  will  be  entirely  for  our  ad 
vantage,  and  a  mere  preliminary  to  something  of  the  sort 
which  must  happen  to  Jamaica  on  the  first  change  of 
wind  in  the  political  world.  The  destruction  of  the  port 
of  Cherbourg  is  no  present  object  with  the  British  minis 
try,  because  they  suppose  it  will  be  ruined  by  the  elements 
before  it  can  be  completed,  and  because  the  French 
marine  is,  from  want  of  discipline,  an  object  more  of  con 
tempt  than  apprehension.  The  proffered  extension  of  the 
commercial  treaty  amounts  to  nothing,  because  at  present 
any  part  of  France  is  open  to  contraband  commerce,  and 
because  there  is  little  reason  to  believe  that  the  stipula 
tions  in  a  treaty  now  made  would  be  of  any  long  duration. 
Thus  it  happens  that  neither  of  the  objects  offered  was 
worthy  of  notice.  But  the  neutrality  required  was  of 
a  most  important  nature.  By  leaving  the  Austrian  Low 
Countries  exposed  to  French  invasion,  it  would  have  been 
a  violation  both  of  ancient  and  recent  treaties.  Nor  is 
this  all,  for  (as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark)  the 
annexation  of  those  provinces  to  the  French  monarchy 
would  prove  almost,  if  not  altogether,  fatal  to  Great  Brit 
ain.  And  when  we  consider  that  they  are  almost  in  re 
volt  already,  and  that  it  is,  in  fact,  their  interest  to  become 
one  with  France,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  a 
union  might  have  been  effected  in  case  of  a  war  with  the 
Emperor.  So  much,  then,  on  the  ground  of  good  faith  and 


522  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

good  policy.  But  there  is  still  a  further  cause  which,  as  the 
world  goes,  may  be  equal  in  its  operation  to  all  others.  It 
seems  to  be  a  moot  point  whether  it  is  the  British  or  Rus 
sian  Cabinet  which  directs  the  other.  Perhaps  there  may 
be  a  little  of  both,  but,  be  all  that  as  it  may,  this  much 
is  certain  :  that  neither  feels  disposed  to  counteract  the 
views  of  its  ally  in  any  open  manner.  Now,  putting  aside 
the  personal  feelings  which  naturally  agitate  the  sover 
eign  of  this  as  well  as  of  other  kingdoms  in  regard  to 
the  French  Revolution,  it  is  notorious  that,  from  the  very 
dawn  of  it,  agents  were  employed  to  foment  a  spirit  of  re 
volt  in  other  States,  particularly  in  Prussia.  The  King  of 
Prussia  therefore  feels  for  the  French  Revolutionists  all  the 
enmity  of  a  proud,  passionate,  and  offended  German  prince. 
Add  to  this  that  the  Elector  of  Hanover,  as  such,  cannot 
wish  for  a  change  in  the  government  of  Germany.  If, 
therefore,  it  had  been  the  interest  of  Great  Britain  to 
establish  a  free  constitution  in  France  (which  it  certainly 
is  not),  I  am  perfectly  convinced  that  this  Court  would 
never  have  made  a  single  effort  for  the  purpose. 

"  I  stated  to  you,  in  my  last,  the  French  ministry  as  be 
ing  extremely  disjointed.  It  was  too  much  so  for  any 
durable  existence ;  besides  which,  the  members  took 
effectual  means  to  precipitate  each  other's  ruin.  M.  de 
Narbonne  wished  to  get  into  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs. 
This  was  desirable  to  him,  it  is  said,  on  many  accounts, 
but  particularly  so  because  it  gives  command  of  large 
sums  without  account.  Whatever  may  have  been  his 
motives,  the  following  seems  to  have  been  his  conduct. 
He  stood  forth  the  advocate  of  all  violent  measures.  This 
would  naturally  have  excited  suspicions  with  thinking 
men,  but  not  so  with  the  Assembly.  He  associated  him 
self  to  the  partisans  of  democracy,  and  while,  by  this 
means,  he  secured  himself  against  their  clamors,  he  took 


I792.J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  523 

great  care  of  his  pecuniary  affairs.  This,  at  least,  is 
affirmed  to  me,  but  with  the  addition  that  he  had  the  in 
dependence  to  pay  off  his  debts,  although  it  is  notorious 
that  his  estate  (which  is  in  Santo  Domingo)  is  among  the 
many  which  are  laid  waste.  It  is  further  asserted  that,  in 
order  to  quiet  the  clamors  of  contractors  who  had  given 
him  money  and  found  themselves  in  the  road  to  ruin,  he 
agreed  to  compensate  the  depreciation  of  the  assignats. 
In  order  to  remove  a  great  obstacle  to  his  proceedings  he 
joined  in  the  intrigues  against  M.  Bertrand  de  Molleville, 
and  at  the  same  time  fostered  the  other  intrigues  against  M. 
Delessart  with  a  view  of  getting  his  place.  The  proofs  of 
all  these  things  are  said  to  be  in  the  King's  hands.  M. 
Delessart's  conduct  I  have  already  in  part  communicated. 
I  must  add  that  afterwards,  imagining  that  Brissot  de  War- 
ville  and  Condorcet  were  omnipotent  in  the  Assembly,  he 
violated  his  engagements  made  with  the  triumvirate,  and 
wrote  some  despatches  conformably  to  the  views  of  those 
two  gentlemen.  In  consequence  of  this  it  was  resolved 
to  displace  him,  and  they  were  looking  out  for  a  suc 
cessor.  The  person  applied  to  was  actually  deliberating 
whether  he  should  or  should  not  accept  at  the  moment 
when  Brissot  brought  about  his  impeachment  and  arrest. 
In  this  same  moment  M.  de  Narbonne  was  dismissed,  and 
with  him  was  to  go  M.  de  Gerville.  The  Chevalier  de 
Graave  succeeds  M.  de  Narbonne.  When  I  left  Paris  he 
was  attached  to  the  triumvirate.  He  does  not  want  for 
understanding,  but  I  think  it  almost  impossible  that  he 
should  succeed.  M.  Bertrand,  against  whom  an  address 
from  the  Assembly  was  at  length  carried,  has,  I  find,  re 
signed.  There  is  something  at  the  bottom  which  I  cannot 
discover  without  being  on  the  spot,  but  you  may  rely 
upon  it  he  goes  out  with  the  full  confidence  of  the  King 
and  Queen.  My  informations  from  Paris  were  previous 


524  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIII. 

to  the  news  of  the  Emperor's  death,  which  has  probably 
occasioned  the  violent  proceedings  against  poor  Delessart, 
by  removing  the  fears  of  those  who  (in  the  midst  of  all 
their  big  words)  were  confoundedly  frightened.  What 
may  be  the  consequences  of  this  event  it  is  impossible  to 
determine,  or  even  to  conjecture.  Much,  very  much,  de 
pends  on  the  personal  character  of  his  successor,  which  I 
am  not  yet  acquainted  with. 

"  It  is  supposed  by  some  here  that  Mr.  Pitt  is  not  strong 
in  the  Cabinet,  although  the  majority  in  Parliament  was 
never  more  decisive,  and  this  is  said  to  arise  from  his 
refusing  to  ask  money  for  payment  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales's  debts,  which  the  King  (it  is  said)  was  desirous  of, 
and  which  his  minister  declined  with  some  offensive  ex 
pressions.  Mr.  Pitt's  friends  insist,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  whole  story  is  false  from  beginning  to  end.  For 
my  own  part,  I  do  not  think  he  will  be  turned  out, 
because  I  believe  him  to  be  a  very  cunning  fellow,  and 
although  he  has  conducted  foreign  affairs  but  poorly,  he 
manages  all  the  little  Court  and  Parliamentary  intrigues 
with  consummate  address." 

The  diary  for  March  25th  resumes  :  "  Take  a  ride  in 
the  park  and  dine  with  the  Corps  Diplomatique  at  the 
Count  de  Roederen's.  The  French  Assembly  have  par 
doned  the  assassins  of  Avignon.  This  is  dreadful.  Go 
from  hence  to  Madame  de  la  Luzerne's  and  sit  there  some 
time.  The  society  here,  who  are  all  aristocrats,  say  that 
not  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  French  nation  is  attached  to 
the  present  government.  Qiiczre :  It  is  certain  that  many 
priests  who  had  taken  the  oath  retract,  so  that  religion 
seems  to  be  embarked  in  the  quarrel,  and  if  at  the  same 
moment  the  artillery  of  an  enemy  and  the  thunders  of  the 
Vatican  shall  be  directed  against  them,  many  will  be 
staggered  ;  if,  in  addition,  a  good  constitution  be  pro- 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  525 

posed,  it  may  work  a  wonderful  and  happy  change,  which 
God  grant." 

"An  express  arrived  last  night,"  Morris  wrote  to  Wash 
ington  on  April  6th,  "  bringing  an  account  of  the  assas 
sination  of  the  King  of  Sweden  the  26th  of  last  month  at 
a  masquerade,  and  thus  another  crown  falls  on  the  head 
of  a  young  sovereign.  Those  who  conceive  the  French 
Jacobins  to  be  at  the  bottom  of  a  great  king-killing  pro 
ject,  approach  the  deaths  of  the  Emperor,  the  King  of 
Sweden,  and  the  movements  making  against  France,  from 
whence  they  infer  that  the  King  of  Prussia  should  take 
care  of  himself,  and  be  cautious  of  his  looks  and  compan 
ions.  Such  sudden  deaths  in  so  critical  a  moment  are 
extraordinary,  but  I  do  not  usually  believe  in  enormities, 
and  cannot  see  how  a  club  can  pursue  a  path  of  horrors 
where  secrecy  is  essential  to  success.  The  young  King  of 
Hungary  has  made  such  reply  to  the  peremptory  demands 
of  France  as  to  cool  a  little  the  extravagance  of  joy  mani 
fested  on  his  father's  death.  I  am  told  that  he  is  a  dis 
ciple  rather  of  his  Uncle  Joseph  than  of  his  father,  and  if 
this  be  so  he  will  not  long  remain  idle.  The  death  of  his 
Swedish  Majesty  will,  however,  make  some  derangement 
in  the  plan  of  operations.  How  all  these  things  will  end 
God  only  knows." 

"Dine  [April  8th]  with  Count  Woronzow.  We  are 
comme  tete-a-tete.  We  have  much  conversation  after  din 
ner.  He  says  that  Mr.  Pitt  was  well  enough  inclined  to 
a  connection  with  America,  but  Lord  Sheffield's  book 
banished  that  idea.  He  says  that  for  a  long  time  he 
believed  him  to  be  an  honest,  candid  man,  but  that  he 
had  at  last  detected  him  in  seriously  asserting  on  his  own 
honor  things  absolutely  false  ;  that  the  British  Govern 
ment  have  spread  all  over  Europe  the  most  unfavorable 
impressions  respecting  America.  Desires  to  have  Ham- 


526  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXIII. 

ikon's  Reports  to  Congress.  He  says  the  object  of  Lord 
Macartney's  *  mission  to  China  is  to  get  some  exclusive 
right  to  the  trade,  and  that  money  well  employed  at 
Pekin  will  insure  success,  the  Chinese  being  the  most 
corrupt,  as  wTell  as  the  most  cowardly  wretches  in  exist 
ence.  He  says  that  a  leading  character  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  India  affairs  was  heard  to  say,  in  the  time  when 
they  expected  to  learn  every  hour  of  the  fall  of  Seringa- 
patam,  that  now  was  the  time  to  turn  their  arms  against 
China.  He  mentions  the  insolence  of  Mr.  Pitt's  menaces 
to  him  (in  the  late  armament,  finding  that  he  would  not 
basely  betray  his  sovereign,  he  had  the  insolence  to 
threaten  him  with  the  loss  of  his  place)  and  the  meanness 
of  his  subsequent  indirect  apologies.  He  says,  also,  that 
the  Marquis  del  Campo  was  so  much  a  tool  of  this  ad 
ministration  that  he  kept  entirely  secret  from  the  French 
ambassador  all  his  proceedings,  and  that  when  the  Span 
ish  Minister  at  the  Hague  published,  in  the  Gazette  of 
Leyden,  some  observations  which  had,  in  the  course  of 
that  negotiation,  been  made  by  Del  Campo,  they  gave 
him  a  severe  rap  over  the  knuckles  and  drove  him  to 
entreat  of  the  Minister  at  the  Hague  that  all  further  pub 
lications  should  be  suppressed.  He  tells  me  that  the 
removal  of  Florida  Blanca  and  advancement  of  d'Aranda 
has  given  them  very  great  concern.  He  says  that  Lord 
Elgin  is  certainly  sent  over  to  France  for  the  purposes  of 
intrigue.  The  conduct  they  have  observed  on  the  taking 
of  the  Resolute  is,  he  says,  the  most  impertinent  imagin 
able  ;  that  Lord  Grenville  told  Mr.  Hertsinger  he  must 

*  George  Macartney,  Earl  of  Macartney,  was  appointed  in  1764  envoy  to 
Russia,  and  succeeded  in  negotiating  an  alliance  between  that  country  and 
England.  Subsequently  he  was  made  Governor  of  Granada,  and  later  of 
Madras.  The  same  position  was  offered  to  him  in  Bengal,  but  he  declined 
it.  After  the  fulfilment  of  a  confidential  mission  to  Italy  he  was,  in  1792, 
appointed  the  first  envoy  of  Britain  to  China.  Born  in  1737,  died,  1806. 

\ 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  $2? 

be  sensible  that  they  had  a  right  to  act  as  they  had  done 
by  the  commercial  treaty,  to  which  the  latter  replied  only 
by  expressing  his  astonishment.  Mrs.  Church  and  I  go 
to  visit  Mrs.  Darner.  She  is  at  work  on  her  statue  of  the 
King,  and  it  is  a  curious  spectacle  to  see  a  delicate  and 
fine  woman  with  the  chisel  and  mallet  chipping  a  huge 
block  of  marble.  She  shows  me  two  heads  Which  are 
very  fine.  Lady  Lyttleton  had  formerly  condemned  in 
strong  terms  her  pursuit,  and  dwelt  on  the  indecency  of 
those  nudities  which  form  a  necessary  appendage  to  every 
statuary's  study.  I  thought  then  of  a  few  lines  on  the 
subject,  and  with  a  very  bad  pen  now  write  them. 

Why  so  sternly  condemn  my  pursuits,  noble  dame, 

And  say  that  my  cheeks  should  be  crimsoned  with  shame? 

Can  the  learned  or  lovely  object  to  a  plan 

Whose  motive  is  taste,  and  whose  subject  is  man? 

A  numerous  offspring,  all  sages  declare, 

Are  the  gems  the  most  precious  a  matron  can  wear ; 

And  you,  once  so  blest  by  connubial  love, 

The  truth  of  that  maxim  will  surely  approve. 

Since,  then,  'tis  your  praise  the  live  subject  to  bear, 

Need  /  blush  who  in  stone  the  cold  copy  prepare  ?  " 

"  I  dine  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Church  en  famille  to-day 
[April  24th],  and  sit  with  him  after  dinner.  The  King  of 
Sweden  is  dead  of  his  wounds,  and  Church  tells  me  that 
on  Lord  Elgin's  return  despatches  were  sent  off  to  inform 
the  King  of  Hungary  that,  let  the  declaration  of  war  come 
from  whichever  side  it  may,  he  is  the  aggressor,  and  that 
this  Court,  notwithstanding  their  treaty  of  guarantee  of 
that  country  to  the  House  of  Austria,  are  determined,  if 
possible,  to  stand  neuter.  Church  tells  me,  which,  indeed, 
I  suspected  before,  that  he  was  concerned  with  the  late 
French  ambassador  in  stock  speculations  during  the  Span 
ish  armament.  He  says  that  Del  Campo  made  regular 


528  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXIII. 

communication  of  all  his  despatches  to  La  Luzerne.  But 
yet  they  made  little  or  nothing  by  the  speculation,  and 
should  have  made  a  plum  apiece  if  the  thing  had  ended 
in  the  time  and  manner  which  was  expected.  He  says 
that  Mr.  Pitt  is  a  very  great  rascal,  as  great  as  his  father, 
though  not  by  any  means  so  great  a  man  ;  that,  far  from 
being  a  daring  Minister,  he  is  timid,  and  therefore  false  ; 
that  he  is  an  unblushing  promise-breaker,  and  will  de 
scend  to  any  meanness  in  order  to  carry  a  favorite  point." 


I792.J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  529 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Morris  returns  to  Paris.  Hears  rumors  that  he  will  not  be  received  in  his 
diplomatic  capacity.  Makes  arrangements  to  fulfil  the  requirements 
of  his  position.  News  from  the  armies.  Madame  de  Tarente  asks  of 
Morris  advice  for  the  queen.  Interview  with  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  Conversation  with  Moustier.  Disorder  in  the  armies.  The 
king  disarms  his  guard.  Morris  is  presented  to  the  king.  Letter 
to  Jefferson.  Dines  with  Dumouriez.  Sudden  change  in  the  min 
istry.  Jeu  de  la  Reine.  Much  movement  in  Paris.  Guard  march 
ing  under  Morris's  windows.  Monciel  asks  his  advice  in  this  crisis. 
The  deputation  from  the  faubourgs  fill  the  Chateau  and  insult  the 
queen.  Morris  goes  to  Court.  The  king  receives  a  part  of  the  mili 
tia.  Lafayette  arrives  at  Paris.  Addresses  the  Assembly.  The 
queen  polite  to  Morris. 

MORRIS  had  not  been  many  days  in  Paris,  where 
he  arrived  on  the  6th  of  May,  before  he  heard 
rumors  that  there  were  doubts  as  to  his  being  received  in 
his  diplomatic  capacity. 

"Madame  de  Flahaut,"  he  says  [May  nth],  "  tells  me 
that  M.  Dumouriez  will  not  receive  me  as  Minister  from 
America  ;  so,  at  least,  she  is  told  by  a  member  of  the  As 
sembly.  We  shall  see.  I  tell  M.  Bremond  and  M.  Jau- 
bert  what  M.  Crevecceur  has  said,  and  they  determine  to 
pump  La  Sonde  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Swan  comes  to  see 
me,  and  insists  that  the  idea  of  not  receiving  me  was 
started  by  Short,  but  I  do  not  believe  it.  He  tells  me 
that  La  Foret  has  written  to  the  ministry  to  be  on  their 
guard  lest  I  should  outwit  them." 

"Dine  at  Madame  Foucault's  [May  i2th],  where  there  is 
a  large  company  of  aristocrats.  They  have  letters  from 
34 


530  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

the  different  armies,  which  all  concur  in  stating  the  disci 
pline  to  be  complete.  As  I  come  away  Tronchan,  who  is 
a  great  revolutionist,  expresses  to  me  his  apprehensions 
and  asks  my  opinion.  I  tell  him  that  it  seems  probable 
that  despotism  will  be  re-established  as  the  necessary  con 
sequence  of  anarchy.  I  have  hired  a  house  in  the  Rue  de 
la  Planche  at  3,500!  per  annum.  Go  to  the  manufacture 
of  Angouleme  and  order  some  porcelain.  My  servant 
Martin  says  he  cannot  serve  me  as  maitre  d'hotel  unless 
I  will  take  a  frotteur  under  him,  and  wishes  his  account, 
which  I  make  out.  The  Baron  de  Grandcour  stops  me  as 
I  go  out  to  tell  me  the  news.  He  says  that  two  and  a  half 
regiments  of  cavalry  are  gone  over  to  the  enemy  ;  that 
the  troops  are  everywhere  in  mutiny,  and  Lafayette's 
army  without  necessaries  of  every  kind,  the  horses  dead, 
the  soldiers  sick  and  weary,  and  the  officers  apprehensive 
and  discontented.  Go  later  to  the  British  ambassador's. 
They  consider  the  affairs  of  France  here  as  brought  to  a 
close  almost,  and  that  a  few  weeks  must  terminate  the 
business.  Madame  de  Montmorin  expresses  the  wish  that 
Lafayette's  army  may  be  thoroughly  beaten,  which  she 
considers  as  necessary  to  destroy  the  hopes  of  the  revolu 
tionists.  Madame  d'Albani  tells  me,  among  other  things, 
that  her  relation,  Madame  de  Tarente,  is  glad  I  am  got 
back.  It  is  the  gladness  in  that  quarter  which  indisposes 
the  others  to  receive  me  ;  at  least,  such  is  my  interpreta 
tion." 

"  M.  de  Favernay  breakfasts  with  me  [May  i4th].  He 
asks  my  advice  as  to  his  future  conduct,  which  I  decline 
giving.  He  says  there  are  a  great  number  of  stanch 
friends  to  the  King  in  Paris,  who  wait  the  favorable  mo 
ment  to  act.  I  tell  him  they  had  better  be  quiet,  for  the 
people  will  certainly  oppose  the  measures  which  they 
espouse.  Go  to  Madame  de  Tarente's,  who  has  foolishly 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  531 

been  playing  the  aristocrat  at  her  section.  She  wishes 
very  much  to  have  my  sentiments,  and  I  tell  her  that  I 
have  formed  none.  She  wishes  some  kind  of  advice  for 
the  Queen  ;  I  tell  her  that  in  my  present  situation  I  can 
give  none,  but,  further,  I  think  their  Majesties  should  not 
only  march  in  the  line  of  the  Constitution,  but  should  not 
permit  any  person  in  their  presence  to  jest  on  that  sub 
ject,  much  less  seriously  to  blame  the  ministers  or  their 
measures.  Dine  at  the  Louvre.  Madame  de  Flahaut 
takes  me  aside  to  tell  me,  as  a  happy  thing  just  heard  from 
M.  de  Rice,  that  the  old  Jacobins  are  willing  to  adopt  a 
second  chamber.  I  tell  her  that  it  is  too  late,  they  are  now 
of  no  sort  of  consequence  ;  arms  must  decide  the  contro 
versy.  She  is  convinced  at  last,  and  thereby  much  dis 
tressed. 

"  It  is  true  that  the  two  and  one-half  regiments  of  cav 
alry  have  deserted,  and  M.  de  Favernay  tells  me  that  the 
regiment  of  cavalry  which  he  belongs  to  have  signified  to 
him  at  Coblentz  that  they  are  ready  to  join  them  at  the 
first  word.  He  mentions  another,  which  was  in  the  affair 
of  Biron  and  which  ran  away  on  purpose.  It  is  whispered 
that  the  corps  under  Gouvion  has  had  a  dressing,  and  M. 
de  Flahaut  tells  me  that  a  commissary  is  come  from  the 
Departement  du  Bas  Rhin,  to  tell  the  Minister  that  there 
is  such  a  scene  of  plunder  and  disorder  there  that  he  can 
not  answer  for  the  supply  of  the  army." 

"My  interview  with  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs 
[May  i5th]  is  very  short.  I  tell  him  that  I  have  a  small 
favor  to  ask  of  the  King,  which  is  that  he  will  receive  me 
without  a  sword,  because  of  my  wooden  leg.  He  says 
there  will  be  no  difficulty  as  to  that  matter,  and  adds  that 
I  am  already  acquainted  with  the  King.  I  reply  that  I 
never  saw  His  Majesty  but  in  public,  nor  ever  exchanged 
a  word  with  him  in  my  life,  although  some  of  their  gazettes 


532  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXIV. 

have  made  of  me  one  of  his  ministers,  and  that  I  am  per 
suaded  that  he  would  not  know  me  if  he  should  see  me. 
Upon  this  he  says  that,  since  I  have  mentioned  it,  he  will 
acknowledge  that  such  is  the  general  idea.  I  tell  him 
that  I  am  naturally  frank  and  open,  and  therefore  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  in  the  time  of  the  Constituent  Assem 
bly  I  endeavored,  being  then  a  private  individual  and 
prompted  by  my  regard  for  this  nation,  to  effect  certain 
changes  in  the  Constitution  which  appeared  to  me  essen 
tial  to  its  existence  ;  that  I  was  not  successful,  and  being 
at  present  a  public  man,  I  consider  it  as  my  duty  not  to 
meddle  with  their  affairs.  I  ask  him  then  when  I  shall 
wait  on  him  to  be  presented,  and  he  says  he  will  let  me 
know,  but  he  thinks  the  sooner  it  is  done  the  better." 

It  was  not  with  any  feeling  of  pleasure  or  satisfaction 
that  Morris  made  preparation  to  fulfil  the  duties  im 
posed  upon  him  by  his  government,  as  may  be  gathered 
from  a  letter  written  at  this  time  to  his  friend  Carmichael 
at  Madrid,  in  which  he  mentions  his  appointment  as 
"Minister  Plenipotentiary  being  unexpected,  and  it  must 
for  some  time  to  come  be  unpleasant." 

A  crisis  in  the  history  of  France  was  at  hand.  The 
plans  for  a  European  coalition  against  the  Revolution, 
and  the  invitation  to  foreign  powers  to  co-operate  in 
restoring  a  sound  government  to  France,  wjiich  had 
been  formulated  at  Pilnitz  in  August,  1791,  irritated  the 
Constitutional  Royalists,  who  availed  themselves  of  the 
opportunity  to  raise  a  war  cry,  with  the  hope  of  increasing 
the  strength  of  the  throne.  The  Jacobins  hoped  for  the 
destruction  of  the  monarchy  in  a  great  national  struggle, 
while  both  parties  united  in  demanding  the  dispersion  of 
the  army  formed  on  the  Rhine  by  the  emigrant  princes. 
Other  points  at  issue  also  tended  to  precipitate  the  im 
pending  crisis,  and  in  April,  1792,  the  Assembly  declared 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  533 

war  against  Austria,  and  thus  commenced  the  tremendous 
struggle  in  which  sooner  or  later  nearly  every  country  in 
Europe  was  to  take  part,  and  which  was  destined  to  last 
for  twenty-three  years. 

Morris  very  forcibly  expressed  his  opinion  of  this  crisis 
in  national  affairs  when,  writing  to  Carmichael  on  May 
i4th,  he  said,  "  France  is  on  the  high-road  to  despot 
ism.  They  have  made  the  common  mistake  that  to  enjoy 
liberty  it  is  necessary  only  to  demolish  authority,  and 
the  common  consequence  results,  viz.,  that  the  most  ardent 
advocates  for  the  Revolution  begin  now  to  wish  and  pray, 
and  even  cry  out,  for  the  establishment  of  despotic  power 
as  the  only  means  of  securing  the  lives  and  properties  of 
the  people.  This  is  terrible.  The  war  in  which  they  are 
engaged  furnishes  a  dreary  prospect  ;  there  seems  to  be 
but  one  ground  to  hope  for  success,  which  is,  that  improb 
able  things  are  those  which  usually  happen." 

"Visit  M.  de  Moustier  [May  lyth].  His  sister,  Ma 
dame  de  Brehan,  tells  me  that  by  taking  away  his  appoint 
ments  they  have  reduced  him  to  2,ooof.  per  annum,  in  con 
sequence  of  which  he  has  turned  off  his  household.  It  is 
said  that  the  Prussian  troops  move  very  slowly,  and  will 
not  be  at  Coblentz  before  the  ist  of  July.  M.  de  Moustier 
calculates  on  a  secure  co-operation  of  Prussia,  and  states  at 
160,000  men  the  combined  army.  He  says,  further,  that  the 
Prince  of  Conde  has  a  corps  of  7,000  cavalry  which  is  ex 
cellent.  This  evening  I  have  a  long  conversation  with 
M.  de  St.  Croix,  who  says  he  does  not  believe  the  foreign 
powers  will  attempt  Paris,  but  confine  their  efforts  to 
Alsace  and  Lorraine.  According  to  him,  the  army  will  be 
very  great.  He  calculates  the  Austrian  troops  now  in  the 
Low  Countries  at  60,000,  and  the  Prussians  in  that  neigh 
borhood  at  20,000.  He  states  the  Prussian  army  in  March 
at  36,000,  and  the  troops  of  Hesse  and  Brunswick  at 


534  DIARY  AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

14,000.  He  supposes  in  the  Brisgau,  with  those  now 
near  that  destination,  20,000,  and  states  the  contingent  of 
the  Empire,  which  ought  to  be  50,000,  at  30,000.  Thus  he 
says  there  is  an  army  of  200,000  men,  without  counting  the 
second  line  of  Austrian  troops  or  the  French  emigrants, 
which  last  may  amount  to  20,000  men." 

"  I  hear  nothing  [May  20th]  from  M.  Dumouriez,*  al 
though  yesterday  I  wrote  him  a  note  enclosing  a  copy  of 
my  credence  and  asking  when  I  am  to  be  presented. 
Look  at  my  horses,  which  have  just  arrived  from  England, 
and  then  go  to  M.  de  Montmorin's,  where  I  dine.  The 
Comte  de  Goltz  comes  in,  who  is  to  leave  this  city  in  a 
few  days  with  M.  Bloomendorf,  the  Imperial  Charge  d'Af- 
faires,  and  others  of  the  Corps  Diplomatique.  He  says  the 
Prussian  troops  will  be  all  arrived  by  the  middle  of  June. 
Go  from  thence  to  the  British  ambassador's,  where  we 
learn  that  the  good  news  from  India  was  fabricated  in  the 
Alley.  We  learn,  also,  that  the  Assembly  has  accused  the 
Juge  de  Paix,  who  has  in  the  course  of  his  duty  brought 
forward  some  of  the  members.  To-day  Roubit  the  tailor 
brings  me  livery  lace  to  look  at,  and,  as  he  is  an  officer  in 
the  Garde  Nationale,  he  talks  politics.  He  says  the  garde 
is  tres  montee.  He  speaks  of  the  present  administration 
as  a  set  of  scoundrels  arid  the  Jacobin  Club  as  being  the 
most  abominable  tyranny.  The  ancien  regime,  so  much 
complained  of,  never,  he  says,  affected  him  or  others  in 
his  line  of  life,  but  the  present  system  renders  the  whole 
community  miserable  either  by  real  injury  or  by  the  con 
stant  apprehension  of  evil." 

"  The  Assembly  have  decreed    a    permanent    session," 


*  Claude  Francois  Dumouriez,  probably  more  than  any  other  French  gen 
eral,  influenced  the  first  period  of  the  French  wars  at  this  time.  He  was 
born  at  Cambrai,  January  25,  1739,  and  died  in  England,  March  14,  1823, 
after  a  long  and  varied  career. 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  535 

says  the  diary  for  May  28th,  "  and,  it  is  thought,  will  dis 
miss  the  King's  life  guard  and  overturn  the  Constitution. 
I  think  they  are  actuated  more  by  fear  than  by  any  regu 
lar  plan  or  principle.  The  officers  of  the  Northern  Army 
have,  it  is  said,  all  resigned  and  everything  seems  to  be 
fallen  into  confusion.  M.  de  Favernay  tells  me  that 
Luckner  has  written  to  the  Minister  of  War  that  the  dis 
order  is  so  great  in  his  army  that,  joined  to  the  absolute 
want  of  necessaries,  he  thinks  it  impossible  to  do  any 
thing." 

"M.  Bremond  and  M.  Monciel  call  on  me  this  morning 
[June  ist]  and  tell  me  that  M.  Dumouriez,  in  order  to 
show  his  sincerity,  read  in  the  Council  a  plan  for  over 
turning  the  Jacobins,  but  was  outvoted.  He  has  since 
promised  to  turn  out  Claviere  and  Servan.  This  latter  is 
to  be  replaced  by  M.  -  — ,  a  Jacobin.  They  are  on  the 
lookout  for  a  Minister  of  Contributions,  and  they  think 
M.  Semonville  is  to  be  the  successor  of  Dumouriez.  I 
urge  Monciel  to  put  himself  in  that  place.  They  are  to 
let  me  know  to-morrow  which  train  they  are  in.  They 
are  to  forward  the  advice  not  to  reinstate  the  King's 
guard,  according  to  the  plan  which  I  gave  them.  The 
Justices  of  the  Peace  are  to  pursue  the  plaint  of  MM.  de 
Montmorin  and  Bertrand.  I  hear  this  evening  that  the 
King's  guard  were  disarmed  this  day  by  His  Majesty's 
own  orders." 

"  M.  Spardow  breakfasts  with  me  [June  3d],  and  we  go 
together  to  the  Chateau  of  the  Tuileries.  I  am  presented 
to  the  King,  who,  on  receiving  my  letter  of  credence,  says, 
'  C'est  de  la  part  des  Etats-Unis,'  and  his  tone  of  voice  and 
his  embarrassment  mark  well  the  feebleness  of  his  dispo 
sition.  I  reply,  '  Oui,  Sire,  et  ils  m'ont  charge  de  temoi- 
gner  a  Votre  Majeste  leur  attachement  pour  elle,  et  pour 
la  nation  frangaise.'  I  am  afterwards  presented  to  the 


536  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

Queen,  who  shows  me  her  son,  and  says,  '  II  n'est  pas  en 
core  grand.'  I  reply,  '  J'espere,  madame,  qu'il  sera  Men 
grand,  et  veritablement  grand.'  '  Nous  y  travaillons,  mon 
sieur.'  I  then  go  to  mass.  There  has  been  a  fete  civiquc 
this  day,  in  honor  of  the  Mayor  d'Estamps,  massacred  by 
a  mob  in  doing  his  duty.  Visit  M.  Dumouriez,  where  I 
dine.  The  society  is  noisy  and  in  bad  style,  the  dinner  is 
still  worse.  I  converse  with  M.  Boncarere,  and  give  him 
reasons  why  they  should  repeal  the  decrees  respecting  our 
commerce.  He  says  he  is  fully  in  opinion  with -me,  but 
nothing  can  be  done  till  they  have  brought  the  Assembly 
into  greater  consistence.  I  observe  that  Dumouriez  is 
anxious  to  converse.  Give  him  the  opportunity,  and  begin 
by  delivering  the  letter  from  the  President  of  the  United 
States  to  the  King  on  his  acceptance  of  the  Constitution. 
He  says  that  he  cannot  attend  to  the  affairs  of  the  United 
States  until  after  his  return  from  the  frontier.  He  says 
that  if  the  negotiators  in  England  have  made  any  con 
siderable  offers  since  he  came  into  the  administration  it 
is  without  authority.  He  is  against  all  treaties  other  than 
those  of  commerce.  He  thinks  there  is  no  danger  to  the 
Constitution  at  present,  that  it  will  triumph  over  every 
obstacle,  and  must  amend  itself.  I  think  he  cannot  be 
lieve  one-half  of  what  he  says." 

"This  morning  [June  loth]  I  pay  my  visits  to  the  Corps 
Diplomatique,  and  go  to  Court.  The  King  seems  less  af 
flicted.  Dine  and  pass  the  evening  at  the  Louvre.  Tell 
Vicq  d'Azyr  that  the  King  and  Queen  must  persuade 
themselves  that  they  are  out  of  danger.  He  asks  me  if 
that  is  my  opinion.  I  assure  him  that  it  is,  and  that  the 
present  troubles  are  but  coruscations  which  succeed  a 
storm." 

On  June  loth  Morris  commenced  a  series  of  letters  to 
Jefferson,  then  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  in 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  537 

which  he  kept  him  informed  of  all  events  as  they  oc 
curred.  These  letters  were  forwarded  as  opportunities  pre 
sented  themselves  ;  but  for  obvious  reasons  he  refrained 
from  speaking  of  persons  in  Paris.  That  of  June  loth  is 
as  follows  : 

"  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  ESQ.,  SECRETARY  OF  STATE. 

"  SIR  :  In  my  interview  with  M.  Dumouriez  on  the  i5th 
of  May,  he  told  me  that  he  thought  it  was  best  I  should 
be  presented  to  the  King  immediately,  but  yet  my  first 
audience  did  not  take  place  until  the  3d  of  this  month. 
He  apologized  for  this  delay  as  proceeding  from  the  state 
of  public  affairs,  which  kept  him  continually  occupied  and 
agitated.  I  will  not  trouble  you  with  repeating  what 
passed  at  my  reception  by  the  King  and  Queen.  On  the 
next  day  I  dined  with  M.  Dumouriez,  and  delivered  the 
letter  from  the  President  to  the  King  on  his  acceptance 
of  the  Constitution,  of  which  letter  I  had  previously  made 
a  translation,  to  avoid  mistakes  of  their  agents,  which  are 
not  uncommon.  By  the  bye,  several  members  of  the  Corps 
Diplomatique  have  spoken  to  me  on  the  subject  of  this  let 
ter,  which  has  given  them  a  high  idea  of  the  President's 
wisdom.  I  took  occasion,  according  to  your  instructions, 
to  mention  the  obnoxious  act  of  the  late  Assembly  both  to 
M.  Dumouriez  and  to  M.  Boncarere,  his  confidential  secre 
tary.  The  latter  told  me  that  he  coincided  with  me  in 
opinion  fully  on  that  subject,  but  that  nothing  could  be 
done  till  they  brought  the  Assembly  into  more  consistency  ; 
that  they  could,  indeed,  command  a  majority,  but  that 
they  could  not  bring  that  majority  into  a  support  of  other 
measures  than  those  of  the  moment  ;  that  (however)  we 
might  digest  the  business  and  put  it  in  train.  M.  Dumou 
riez  told  me  that  his  system  of  politics  was  extremely  sim 
ple  ;  that  a  power  so  great  as  France  stood  in  no  need  of 


538  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

alliances,  and  therefore  he  was  against  all  treaties  other 
than  those  of  commerce.  You  are  already  informed,  I 
suppose,  of  the  reasons  which  led  to  a  declaration  of  war 
against  the  King  of  Hungary,  and  you  know  that  the  hope 
of  an  insurrection  in  the  Austrian  Flanders  was  among 
those  reasons.  Indeed,  the  intention  to  excite  it,  and  the 
efforts  made  to  that  effect,  have  (for  the  first  time,  I  be 
lieve,  in  modern  days)  been  publicly  avowed.  This  hope 
has  hitherto  proven  fallacious,  and,  indeed,  as  far  as  can  be 
judged  from  the  temper  and  character  of  the  Flemish  peo 
ple,  and  from  the  information  I  have  been  able  to  collect, 
it  seems  to  be  the  better  opinion  that,  however  they  may 
feel  an  aversion  to  the  Austrian  Government,  they  are  still 
less  disposed  to  that  of  France.  There  is  therefore  no 
probability  of  any  capital  diversion  in  that  quarter,  and 
the  chance  of  it  is  daily  decreasing  from  two  natural 
causes  :  first,  that  the  French  troops  are  extremely  undis 
ciplined,  and,  secondly,  that  the  force  of  their  enemies  will 
soon  receive  very  considerable  additions.  Having  com 
bined  all  the  intelligence  that  can  be  relied  on,  it  results 
that  about  the  middle  of  next  month  the  allied  armies  will 
be  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  strong,  exclusive  of 
the  French  emigrants.  It  is  doubtful  whether  these  last 
will  be  permitted  to  act,  and  for  the  following  reasons : 
First,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  twenty  thousand  gen 
tlemen  volunteers,  serving  at  their  own  expense,  can  be 
well  disciplined  ;  consequently,  it  is  to  be  apprehended 
that  they  will  be  more  injurious  to  their  friends  than  to 
their  enemies.  Secondly,  it  is  next  to  impossible  that 
in  such  a  number,  all  irritated  by  injuries,  either  real 
or  supposed,  there  will  not  be  some  who  will  act  more  from 
motives  of  private  vengeance  than  regard  to  public  good, 
and  it  is  certain  that  acts  of  cruelty  and  injustice  will  rather 
tend  to  prolong  than  terminate  the  contest ;  at  least,  to  give 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  539 

it  that  termination  which  they  wish  for.  Thirdly,  it  is 
notorious  that  the  great  mass  of  the  French  nation  is  less 
solicitous  to  preserve  the  present  order  of  things  than  to 
prevent  the  return  of  the  ancient  oppressions,  and,  of 
course,  would  more  readily  submit  to  a  pure  despotism 
than  to  that  kind  of  monarchy  whose  only  limits  were 
found  in  those  noble,  legal,  and  clerical  corps  by  which 
the  people  were  alternately  oppressed  and  insulted  ;  and 
this  observation  leads  naturally  to  the  object  of  the  com 
bined  powers,  which  I  conceive  to  be  the  establishment  of 
a  military  government  on  the  ruins  of  that  anarchic  sys 
tem  which  now  prevails,  and  in  the  continuance  of  which 
no  power  but  England  has  any  interest.  The  others,  see 
ing  that  without  a  counterpoise  in  the  marine  scale,  Brit 
ain  must  possess  the  empire  of  the  ocean  (which,  in  the 
present  commercial  state  of  the  world,  is  a  kind  of  uni 
versal  empire),  cannot  but  wish  to  re-establish  this  king 
dom. 

"  But  a  great  question  occurs.  What  kind  of  govern 
ment  shall  be  established  ?  The  emigrants  hope  for  their 
darling  aristocracy  ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  supposed  that 
kings  will  exert  themselves  to  raise  abroad  what  they 
labor  incessantly  to  destroy  at  home,  and  more  especially 
as  the  French  Revolution  having  been  begun  by  the  nobles, 
the  example  will  be  so  much  the  more  striking  if  they 
become  the  victims  of  it.  But  if  the  allied  monarchs  have 
an  interest  in  destroying  the  aristocracy,  they  have  a  much 
stronger  and  more  evident  interest  in  preventing  a  free 
and  well-poised  system  from  being  adopted.  Such  system 
must  inevitably  extend  itself,  and  force  the  neighboring 
powers  to  relax  from  their  tyranny.  If  the  Court  of  Ber 
lin  could  have  been  insensible  to  this  truth,  in  which  it  is 
so  deeply  interested,  the  zealous  reformers  here  would  not 
have  permitted  the  Prussian  ministers  to  slumber  over  their 


540  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

danger.  The  desire  to  propagate  and  make  converts  to 
their  opinions  has  led  them  so  far  that  the  quarrel,  which 
might  have  been  only  political,  has  become  personal,  and 
I  have  good  reason  to  believe,  notwithstanding  the  pro 
found  secrecy  which  is  preserved  respecting  the  designs 
of  the  grand  alliance,  that  it  is  in  contemplation  to  put  all 
power  into  the  hands  of  the  King.  Things  have  been 
prepared  for  that  event  by  the  inconsiderate  partisans  of 
liberty.  In  their  eagerness  to  abolish  ancient  institu 
tions,  they  forgot  that  a  monarchy  without  intermediate 
ranks  is  but  another  name  for  anarchy  or  despotism. 
The  first,  unhappily,  exists  to  a  degree  scarcely  to  be 
paralleled  ;  and  such  is  the  horror  and  apprehension 
which  licentious  societies  have  universally  inspired,  that 
there  is  some  reason  to  believe  the  great  mass  of  French 
population  would  consider  even  despotism  as  a  blessing,  if 
accompanied  with  security  to  person  and  property  such 
as  is  experienced  under  the  worst  governments  in  Europe. 
Another  great  means  of  establishing  despotism  here  is  to 
be  found  in  that  national  bankruptcy  which  seems  to  be 
inevitable.  The  expense  of  the  last  month  exceeded  the 
income  by  about  ten  millions  of  dollars.  This  expense 
continues  to  increase,  and  the  revenue  to  diminish.  The 
estate  of  the  clergy  is  consumed,  and  the  debt  is  as  great 
as  at  the  opening  of  the  States-General.  The  current  ex 
pense  has,  by  taking  away  the  property  of  the  church, 
been  increased  about  a  sixth.  The  dilapidation  in  every 
department  is  unexampled,  and  they  have,  to  crown  all, 
an  increasing  paper  money,  which  already  amounts  to 
above  three  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  From  such  facts 
it  is  impossible  not  to  draw  the  most  sinister  presages. 
The  country-people  have  hitherto  been  actuated,  in  a  great 
measure,  by  the  hope  of  gain.  The  abolition  of  tithes,  of 
feudal  rights,  and  burdensome  taxes  was  so  pleasant  that, 


i792]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  541 

a  cold  examination  of  consequences  would  not  be  ad 
mitted,  still  less  an  inquiry  into  the  strict  measure  of  jus 
tice.  Next  to  the  abolition  came  on  those  philosophical 
and  mathematical  arrangements  of  the  fisc,  which  are  very 
beautiful  and  satisfactory,  and  to  which  there  lies  but  one 
objection  of  any  consequence,  which  is  that  they  are  in- 
executable.  Now  I  have  frequently  observed  that,  when 
men  are  brought  to  abandon  the  paths  of  justice,  it  is  not 
easy  to  arrest  their  progress  at  any  particular  point,  and 
therefore,  as  the  whole  kingdom  (Paris  excepted)  is  inter 
ested  in  the  non-payment  of  taxes,  the  question  will  be 
decided  without  much  difficulty  if  once  the  legislature 
gets  out  of  this  city.  ^They  are  already  preparing  for  a 
march,  and  it  is  intended  to  take  the  King  with  them,  to 
which  effect  a  decree  has  already  passed  to  disband  his  life 
guard,  and  another  to  collect  twenty  thousand  men  to  the 
northward  of  this  city.  An  opposition  will  be  made  by 
the  Parisian  militia  to  the  latter  decree,  because  they  begin 
to  perceive  the  object  ;  and  as  it  seems  to  be  a  pretty  gen 
eral  opinion  among  them  that  no  capital  opposition  will  be 
made  to  the  Austrian  and  Prussian  troops,  they  consider 
the  person  of  Louis  XVI.  as  forming  the  most  solid  al 
liance  they  have,  to  protect  them  from  plunder  and  out 
rage.  This  decree  may  therefore  occasion  either  a  schism 
between  the  militia  and  the  Assembly,  or  among  the  in 
habitants  of  Paris,  or  both.  Already  there  exists  a  serious 
breach  between  the  members  of  the  present  administra 
tion,  and  part  of  them  must  go  out.  I  have  the  best  rea 
son  to  believe  that  the  whole  will  be  changed  before  many 
weeks,  and  some  of  them  within  a  few  days.  There  exists, 
also,  a  mortal  enmity  between  different  parties  in  the  As 
sembly.  At  the  head  of  the  Jacobin  faction  is  the  deputa 
tion  from  Bordeaux,  and  that  city  is  (as  you  know)  par 
ticularly  indisposed  to  our  commercial  interests.  It  is  this 


542  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

case  of  universal  hostility,  or  rather  confusion,  to  which 
Dumouriez  alluded  when  he  apologized  for  delaying  my 
audience.  And  it  was  this,  also,  which  his  confidant  had 
in  view  when  he  mentioned  the  necessity  of  waiting  for  a 
greater  consistency  in  the  legislature  before  anything 
could  be  done.  M.  Dumouriez  told  me  that  he  was  per 
fectly  easy  in  respect  to  Prussia,  whose  only  object  was 
to  get  the  House  of  Austria  fairly  engaged,  and  then  to 
take  advantage  of  its  embarrassments.  I  told  him  that  he 
must,  of  course,  be  well  informed  on  that  subject,  but 
that  since  the  departure  of  the  Prussian  minister  without 
taking  leave,  I  could  not  but  suppose  the  intentions  of 
that  court  were  more  serious  than  he  imagined.  He  gave 
me  many  reasons  for  his  opinion,  which  I  should  have  sup 
posed  to  be  only  an  ostensible  one  if  his  intimates  had 
not  on  another  occasion  quoted  it  to  me,  and  if  I  did  not 
know  the  principal  channel  through  which  he  derives  his 
intelligence. 

"A  late  circumstance  will  tend  rather  to  establish  than 
remove  this  opinion — I  mean  the  attack  on  Poland  by 
the  Empress  of  Russia,  to  overturn  the  new  constitution. 
Whether  this  movement  be  in  concert  with  the  Austrian 
and  Prussian  Cabinets,  or  not,  is  doubtful.  I  cannot  as 
yet  make  up  any  tolerable  judgment  on  the  subject,  but  I 
believe  that  in  either  case  those  cabinets  will  pursue  their 
object  in  regard  to  this  country.  The  details  I  have  en 
tered  into,  and  the  information  which  you  will  collect  from 
the  public  prints,  will  show  that  in  the  present  moment  it 
will  be  very  difficult  to  excite  attention  to  other  objects  than 
those  by  which  they  are  so  strongly  agitated.  The  best 
picture  I  can  give  of  the  French  nation  is  that  of  cattle  be 
fore  a  thunder-storm.  And  as  to  the  government,  every 
member  of  it  is  engaged  in  the  defence  of  himself  or  the 
attack  of  his  neighbor.  I  shall,  notwithstanding,  pursue 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  543 

the  objects  which  you  recommend.  The  obstacles  to  suc 
cess  form  but  incitements  to  the  attempt.  It  must,  how 
ever,  be  made  with  caution,  because  any  sudden  change  of 
affairs  may  bring  forward  persons  who  would  oppose  a 
measure  merely  because  their  predecessors  had  approved 
of  it.  You  desired  me,  among  other  things,  to  send  you 
the  Moniteur,  but  the  editor  of  that  paper  does  not  give 
so  faithful  a  report  of  what  passes  in  the  Assembly  as 
you  will  find  in  the  Logographe.  If  there  be  any  one  of  the 
gazetteers  who  is  impartial,  it  is  the  author,  or,  rather, 
transcriber  of  this. 

"  I  send  you,  of  course,  the  Gazette  of  France,  which 
says,  you  know,  whatever  the  ministry  order  it  to  say. 
The  Patriote  Fran$ais,  written  by  M.  Brissot,  will  give  you 
the  republican  side  of  the  question,  as  the  Gazette  Univer- 
selle  does  that  of  the  kind  of  monarchy  proposed  by  the 
Constitution.  The  paper  called  the  Indicateur  is  written  by 
a  party  wrho  wish  a  more  vigorous  executive,  although 
(strange  to  tell)  this  party  consists  of  the  persons  who  in 
the  beginning  of  the  late  Assembly  did  everything  to  bring 
the  kingdom  into  the  situation  now  experienced.  The 
journal  of  the  Jacobins  will  give  you  what  passes  in  that 
society.  The  Gazette  of  Leyden,  which  I  transmit  accord 
ing  to  your  request,  will  convey  a  kind  of  digest  of  all 
these  different  sentiments  and  opinions.  Thus,  sir,  if  you 
have  the  patience  to  look  over  these  several  papers,  you 
will  have  a  clear  view  not  only  of  what  is  done,  but  of 
what  is  intended." 

"I  dine  to-day  [June  i4th — to  resume  the  diary]  with 
Dumouriez.  He  is  more  at  his  ease  than  usual,  having 
opened  himself  to  the  King  and  Queen  and  given  them 
assurances  of  his  attachment ;  this  Madame  de  Flahaut  has 
learned  through  St.  Foi.  I  say  many  things  to  him  avec 


544  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

connaissance  de  cause,  which  the  other  members  of  the  Corps 
Diplomatique  cannot  comprehend,  and  which  they  are 
therefore  surprised  at.  At  Court  I  observe  that  the  King 
and  Queen  were  more  at  ease  than  usual.  The  change  of 
ministry  has  gone  off  very  quietly,  notwithstanding  the 
noise  of  the  moment.  M.  de  Montmorin  tells  me  that  Du- 
mouriez  and  Brissot  had  a  conversation  and  were  about  to 
unite  together.  In  consequence,  the  decrees  for  twenty 
thousand  men  and  for  transportation  of  the  priests  were  to 
be  sanctioned,  and  M.  de  Claviere  was  to  be  brought  back 
into  the  administration.  The  King  refused  to  sanction 
these  obnoxious,  unconstitutional  decrees,  and  thereupon 
Dumouriez  resigned." 

"This  morning  [June  lyth]  M.  Monciel  calls,  and  tells 
me  that  the  Lameth  party  have  pressed  him  hard  to  accept 
the  place  of  Minister  of  the  Interior.  I  advise  him  to  take 
nothing  but  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  he  quits  me 
with  that  intention,  but  says  they  have  offered  him  the  In 
terior  as  a  step  towards  the  other  office.  Dress  and  go  to 
Court  ;  we  have  here  a  list  of  ministers  in  which  Monciel 
stands  for  the  Interior.  The  Assembly  have  received  and 
referred  a  petition  of  the  Jacobin  Society  for  suspending 
the  King." 

The  sudden  change  in  the  ministry  was  a  surprise  to 
Morris,  at  least  as  to  the  totality.  Dumouriez,  who  had 
dismissed  Servan,  Roland,  and  Claviere,  had  filled  the 
places  with  his  particular  friends  but  failed  to  prepare  him 
self  beforehand  for  all  consequences.  In  the  second  of  the 
series  of  letters  to  Jefferson,  dated  June  lyth,  Morris  says  : 
"The  King,  much  to  Dumouriez's  surprise,  accepted  his 
resignation,  and,  in  consequence,  all  his  newly  appointed 
friends  go  out  with  him.  The  Jacobins  were  busy  all  last 
night  to  excite  a  tumult  in  the  city,  but  the  precautions 
taken  to  prevent  it  have  as  yet  proved  successful,  and  I 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  545 

am  told  that  M.  Luckner  and  M.  de  Lafayette  still  persist 
in  their  determination  not  to  risk  an  action.  If  so,  the 
present  state  of  uncertainty  may  continue  some  time.  If 
they  fight  and  gain  a  victory,  it  is  not  improbable  that  we 
may  witness  some  outrages  of  the  most  flagitious  kind.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  there  is  any  capital  defeat,  the  Jacobin  fac 
tion  will  be  a  little  moderated.  On  the  whole,  sir,  we  stand 
on  a  vast  volcano.  We  feel  it  tremble,  we  hear  it  roar,  but 
how  and  when  and  where  it  will  burst,  and  who  may  be  de 
stroyed  by  its  eruptions,  it  is  beyond  the  ken  of  mortal  fore 
sight  to  discover.  This  new  ministry  will  be  purged  (at 
any  rate)  of  some  of  its  members,  but  one  great  doubt  ex 
ists — whether  it  will  not  be  driven  off  by  the  Jacobin  fac 
tion.  It  is  in  contemplation  to  make  a  serious  effort 
against  that  faction  in  favor  of*the  Constitution,  and  M.  de 
Lafayette  will  begin  the  attack.  I  own  to  you  that  I  am 
not  sanguine  as  to  the  success.  Very  much  is  to  be  done, 
and  there  is  very  little  time  to  do  it,  for  the  foreign  enemy 
will  soon  be  greatly  superior  in  number,  and  it  seems  now 
to  be  ascertained  that  Alsace  and  Lorraine  are  disposed  to 
join  the  invaders.  Thus  while  a  great  part  of  the  nation 
is  desirous  of  overturning  the  present  government  in  order 
to  restore  the  ancient  form,  and  while  another  part,  still 
more  dangerous  from  position  and  numbers,  are  desirous 
of  introducing  the  form  of  a  federal  republic,  the  moder 
ate  men,  attacked  on  all  sides,  have  to  contend  alone 
against  an  immense  force.  I  cannot  go  on  with  the  pict 
ure,  for  my  heart  bleeds  when  I  reflect  that  the  finest  op 
portunity  which  ever  presented  itself  for  establishing  the 
rights  of  mankind  throughout  the  civilized  world  is  per 
haps  lost,  and  forever." 

"Go  with  Lord  Gower  to  the  feu  de  la  Reine"  says  the 
diary  for  June  igth,  "which  is  a  mighty  stupid  kind  of 
amusement  to  all  parties.     Madame  de  Stael  had  invited. 
35 


546  DIARY   AND    LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

me  to  supper,  and  is  not  at  home.  This  is  some  mistake, 
but  it  is  fortunate,  because  it  gives  me  room  to  be  off  an 
other  time.  Bremond  tells  me  that  Monciel  has  accepted. 
M.  de  Lafayette's  letter  to  the  Assembly  has  been  read, 
and  has  produced  some  little  effect.  Bremond  says  that 
Monciel  will  call  on  me  early  to-morrow.  He  has  had  a 
long  conversation  with  the  King  and  is  well  pleased  with 
him.  There  is  to  be  a  sort  of  riot  to-morrow  about  fixing 
a  May-pole  before  the  Chateau." 

"  There  is  a  great  movement  in  Paris,  and  the  guard  is 
paraded  [June  2oth].  While  I  am  writing,  the  mob  and 
the  National  Guards  are  marching  and  countermarching 
under  my  windows.  I  don't  think  they  will  come  to  blows. 
Dine  with  the  Baron  de  Blome  ;  after  dinner  we  learn  that 
the  deputation  of  the  Faubourgs  has  forced  the  unresist 
ing  guard,  filled  the  Chateau,  and  grossly  insulted  the 
King  and  Queen.  His  Majesty  has  put  on  the  bonnet  rouge, 
but  he  persists  in  refusing  to  sanction  the  decrees.  'This 
is  neither  the  form  in  which  it  ought  to  be  demanded  of 
me,  nor  the  moment  to  obtain  it,'  he  calmly  told  the  surg 
ing  crowd  of  angry  people  who  pressed  upon  him,  almost 
to  the  point  of  suffocation.  Spend  this  evening  at  the 
Louvre.  The  Constitution  has  this  day,  I  think,  given  its 
last  groan." 

"Early  this  morning  [June  2ist]  M.  Monciel  and  M.  Bre 
mond  call  on  me.  The  former  asks  my  advice  in  this  crit 
ical  state  of  affairs.  I  recommend  the  suspension  of  M. 
Petion  and  the  prosecution  of  the  ringleaders  of  yester 
day's  tumult.  He  leaves  me.  After  breakfast  Bremond 
calls  again,  and  shows  me  a  letter  from  the  Victualling 
Department,  by  which  it  seems  that  the  resources  of  Paris 
for  butcher's  meat  will  be  soon  curtailed  very  much.  Go 
to  Court.  Mr.  Swan  came  in  just  as  I  went  out,  and  told 
me  that  the  National  Guards  are  outrageous  about  yester- 


X792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  547 

day's  business.  The  King  behaved  perfectly  well  yester 
day.  This  morning  a  M.  Sergans,  one  of  the  municipal 
ity,  is  kicked  and  cuffed  by  the  Garde  Nationale  in  the 
court  of  the  Chateau  for  his  vile  conduct  of  yesterday. 
M.  Pe"tion  also  is  received  with  very  contumelious  lan 
guage.  Thus  the  riot  turns  out  differently  from  what  its 
authors  expected.  Visit,  after  dinner,  at  M.  de  Montmo- 
rin's.  He  takes  the  merit  of  what  is  done  and  doing,  *  for/ 
says  he,  '  Dupont  called  on  me  and  went  from  my  house 
to  see  Monciel/  etc.  Now  Bremond  told  me  that  he  found 
Dupont  fast  asleep,  and  made  him  get  up  and  go  to  Mon- 
ciel's  after  they  left  me  this  morning.  After  dinner  we 
walk  in  the  garden,  he,  Malouet,  and  Bertrand  meditating 
on  the  state  of  things.  In  order  to  see  what  stuff  they  are 
made  of,  I  tell  them  what  measures  would  put  an  end  to 
all  troubles,  but  those  measures  are  deep  and  dangerous, 
and  when  we  go  into  M.  de  Montmorin's  closet  he  sickens." 

"  Bremond  calls  this  morning  [June  24th],  and  tells  me 
his  conversation  with  Servan,  the  late  Minister  of  War,  who 
is  about  to  take  command  in  the  South  of  France.  He  ex 
pects  that  a  great  republic  will  be  established  there,  and 
invites  Bremond  to  manage  its  finances.  Bremond  ex 
pects  by  degrees  to  become  master  of  their  secrets.  Di 
gest  an  answer  to  the  Assembly  for  Monciel.  Their  order 
is  captious,  and  if  they  do  not  blush  at  the  inconsistency 
of  their  conduct  they  will  push  the  ministers  hard.  Go  to 
Court.  The  King  receives  this  day  a  part  of  the  militia. 
The  Dauphin  is  in  the  uniform  of  the  Garde  Nationale. 
The  King  has  received  an  offer  of  assistance  from  Picardy. 
Give  Bremond  some  hints,  and  he  writes  under  my  dicta 
tion  a  plan  to  be  given  by  the  King  to  the  Assembly,  and 
does  not  finish  till  after  midnight." 

"  This  morning  [June  26th]  Bremond  calls,  and  tells  me 
that  Monciel  will  give  the  note  prepared  last  night  to  the 


548  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

King  this  morning.  My  tailor,  who  is  a  captain  in  the 
militia,  tells  me  that  things  go  very  badly  ;  that  the  militia 
is  much  divided  in  opinion.  I  go  to  the  Minister  of  For 
eign  Affairs,  and  mention  to  him  several  things  which  I 
had  to  communicate.  I  am  to  make  notes  thereof.  While 
I  am  here  Monciel  comes  in,  but  we  do  not  know  each 
other." 

"  M.  de  Lafayette  is  arrived  [June  28th],  Monciel  comes 
to  tell  me,  and  is  to  go  this  morning  to  the  Assembly.  The 
King,  on  receiving  the  project  prepared  for  him,  said  it 
would  be  very  good  if  they  could  count  on  the  Garde  Na- 
tionale.*  I  tell  him  that  Lafayette's  visit  can  produce 
nothing,  and  therefore  he  must  exert  himself  to  bring  for 
ward  the  Picards.  He  thinks  Lafayette  may  be  rendered 
instrumental  to  the  sortie  of  the  King  from  Paris,  and  he 
counts  on  the  Swiss.  This  latter  part  of  the  plan  is  most 
reasonable.  Dress  and  go  to  Court,  but  find  that  the 
reception  of  the  Corps  Diplomatique  is  postponed  till  to 
morrow.  Dine  at  the  British  ambassador's,  where  I  meet 
Madame  de  Stael.  She  gives  us  an  account  of  M.  de  La 
fayette's  reception  and  address  to  the  Assembly.  She  is 
not  satisfied,  but  says  that  this  may  be  owing  to  her  fond 
ness  for  eloquence." 

"  At  Court  to-day  [June  29th]  Madame  Elizabeth  and 
the  Queen  refer  to  the  mistake  I  made  yesterday  in  com 
ing  to  Court,  when  the  Corps  Diplomatique  were  not  re 
ceived.  I  tell  the  latter  that  it  was  the  fault  of  the  post, 
for  so  Sequeville  told  me,  and  the  remark  seems  directed 
against  him  and  Lalive.  Lafayette  speaks  to  me  at  Court 
on  the  ton  of  ancient  familiarity.  I  tell  him  I  should  be 
glad  to  see  him  for  a  few  minutes.  He  says  he  is  going 

*  Lafayette's  request,  in  his  own  name  and  that  of  the  army,  was  the  pun 
ishment  of  those  who  figured  in  the  attempted  insurrection  of  the  2Oth  and 
the  destruction  of  the  sect  of  the  Jacobins. 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  549 

out  of  town  this  evening,  but  gives  me  rendezvous  at  M. 
de  Montmorin's.  I  tell  him  that  he  must  return  soon  to 
his  army  or  go  to  Orleans,  and  that  he  must  determine  to 
fight  for  a  good  constitution  or  for  that  wretched  piece  of 
paper  which  bears  the  name ;  that  in  six  weeks  it  will  be 
too  late.  He  asks  what  I  mean  by  a  good  constitution  ; 
whether  it  is  an  aristocratic  one.  I  tell  him  yes,  and  that 
I  presume  he  has  lived  long  enough  in  the  present  style 
to  see  that  a  popular  government  is  good  for  nothing  in 
France.  He  says  he  wishes  the  American  Constitution, 
but  an  hereditary  executive.  I  tell  him  that  in  such  case 
the  monarch  will  be  too  strong,  and  must  be  checked  by 
an  hereditary  senate.  He  says  it  goes  hard  with  him  to 
give  up  that  point.  Here  ends  our  colloquy.  Return 
home.  Dictate  to  Bremond  a  further  counsel  to  be  given 
by  Monciel  to  the  King.  The  principal  object  is  to  get 
a  decision." 

"  The  King  has  neither  plans,  money,  nor  means,  Bre 
mond  and  Monciel  tell  me  [July  2d],  and  the  Lameth  fac 
tion  are  all  as  naked  as  he.  Monciel  says  he  is  afraid 
of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  constitutionalists.  'The 
French,'  says  Monciel,  '  are,  I  am  afraid,  too  rotten  for  a 
free  government.'  I  tell  him  that  the  experiment  may 
nevertheless  be  tried,  and  despotism  still  remains  as  a  last 
shift.  Bremond  stays  till  after  twelve  o'clock,  and  my 
time  is  consumed  for  nothing." 

"  Bremond  gives  me  an  account  of  what  is  doing  [July 
6th].  I  suggest  to  him  a  decree  to  be  adopted  respecting 
the  foreign  ministers.  Sup  at  the  Louvre.  Danton  has 
said  to-day  publicly,  a  propos  of  the  intrigues  of  the  Court, 
that  they  would  get  rid  of  the  whole  the  i4th.  The  differ 
ent  parts  of  the  Assembly  are  united,  and  all  is  love  and 
kindness  [July  yth].  This  arises  from  fear  among  the 
Republicans.  Dine  with  M.  de  Montmorin,  and  visit  after 


55O  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXIV. 

dinner  Lady  Sutherland  at  the  Louvre.  I  see  Vicq  d'Azyr, 
and  tell  him  I  had  prepared  a  letter  for  his  mistress,  but 
I  will  not  send  it.  He  urges  me,  but  I  refuse.  The  King 
has  been  to  the  Assembly,  which  I  disapprove  of." 

"  Bremond  tells  me  this  morning  [July  8th]  that  Monciel 
intends  to  resign.  He  opposed  in  council  what  was  done 
yesterday,  and  spoke  privately  both  to  the  King  and 
Queen,  but  without  effect.  Go  to  Court.  Her  Majesty 
is  in  good  spirits,  and  very  affable.  I  am  not  pleased, 
however,  with  her  conduct." 

"  Spend  the  evening  [July  pth]  at  Madame  d'Albani's. 
The  Venetian  ambassador,  who  had  expressed  great  hopes 
and  expectations  yesterday  from  the  reconciliation  scene, 
is  quite  done  over  to-day.  Brissot  has  pronounced  a  fiery 
discourse  against  the  King.  Tronchin  is  heartily  sick  of 
the  Revolution." 


1792. J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  551 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

Condition  of  Europe  in  July,  1792.  Letter  to  Jefferson.  Morris  opens 
his  house.  Tells  Montmorin  that  the  king  should  leave  Paris.  Mor 
ris  prepares  mtmoires  for  the  king.  Paris  terrified  by  riots.  The 
king  and  queen  distressed  and  in  great  apprehension.  They  expect 
to  be  murdered  at  the  Chateau.  Morris  goes  to  Court.  Very  hot 
weather.  Great  agitation  in  Paris.  Musketry  ushers  in  August  roth. 
The  Chateau  undefended  is  carried  and  the  Swiss  guards  murdered. 
The  king  and  queen  are  in  the  National  Assembly.  Morris's  house 
filled  with  frightened  people.  The  ambassadors  leave  Paris.  Mor 
ris  stays  at  his  post.  He  tells  Claviere  that  he  has  no  powers  to 
treat  with  the  new  government.  Morris's  house  searched.  Murders 
continue.  Letter  to  Jefferson  describing  the  Revolution. 

EARLY  in  July  the  Ministers  reported  to  the  Assem 
bly  the  disposition  of  the  powers.  Russia  had  ac 
ceded  to  the  Treaty  of  Pilnitz  and  was  at  the  moment 
treating  with  Esterhazy  and  Nassau  ;  the  Pope  was  pre 
paring  his  thunderbolts  ;  England,  Denmark,  and  Venice 
were  neutral  ;  Spain  seemed  willing  to  adhere  to  the  fam 
ily  compact  ;  France  was  at  war  with  the  Court  of  Turin. 
The  Assembly  solemnly  pronounced  the  country  In  dan 
ger.  Cannon  were  fired.  The  National  Guards  put 
themselves  in  motion,  and  the  enrolment  of  volunteers,  to 
the  number  of  fifteen  thousand  in  one  day,  was  rapidly 
pushed  forward.  On  the  7th  of  July  the  members  of  the 
Assembly  swore  an  oath  of  everlasting  fraternity  ;  the 
most  inveterate  enemies,  clasped  in  each  other's  arms,  an 
nihilated  all  distinctions.  By  the  evening,  however,  of 
this  auspicious  day,  all  reconciliations  were  forgotten  in 
the  proceedings  taken  against  Petion  for  his  action  on  the 
2oth  of  June,  and  party  feeling  ran  high. 


552  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

Morris,  in  his  fourth  letter  to  Jefferson,  written  on 
the  loth  of  July,  speaks  as  follows  of  the  action  of  the 
Assembly  on  the  yth  :  "  On  Saturday,  the  yth,  a  farce  was 
acted  in  the  Assembly,  in  which  the  principal  performers 
played  well  their  parts,  the  King  was  duped  according  to 
custom,  and  things  are  verging  fast  to  the  catastrophe  of 
the  play.  For  some  weeks  the  adverse  party,  I  mean  the 
Court  and  Jacobins,  have  been  laboring  each  to  cast  on  the 
other  the  odium  of  violating  entirely  the  Constitution  and 
commencing  the  civil  war.  The  party  which  calls  itself 
independent  and  which,  in  fact,  is  the  fearful  party,  begs 
hard  for  peace  and  seizes  eagerly  whatever  bears  the  ap 
pearance  or  the  name.  It  was  to  catch  these  gudgeons 
that  the  scene  of  Saturday  was  exhibited.  The  King  and 
Queen,  believing  that  the  actors  were  in  earnest,  and 
knowing  that  their  lives  had  been  at  stake,  were  over 
joyed,  and  their  timid  counsellors,  trembling  under  the 
tyrannous  powers  of  the  Assembly,  seized  with  eagerness 
the  bait  of  reconciliation  which  had  been  thrown  out 
without  any  hope  that  they  would  swallow  it.  One  of 
them,  whom  I  have  already  mentioned  to  you  as  a  very 
worthy  man,  saw  through  the  thin  veil  of  deception,  and 
opposed  the  opinion  of  the  others,  but  in  vain.  Events, 
in  justifying  him,  have  fixed  his  predominance.  This  day 
the  King  will  commence  a  new  career,  and  if  he  goes 
through  I  think  he  will  succeed.  I  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  this  letter  will  go  safely,  but  yet  I  cannot  jus 
tify  saying  more  on  the  subject,  because  otherwise  the 
confidence  reposed  in  me  might,  in  the  course  of  events, 
prove  fatal  to  my  informant." 

"  The  Ministers  have  all  resigned,"  the  diary  records, 
July  nth.  "  Bremond  tells  me  that  their  Majesties 
flashed  in  the  pan,  which  was  the  occasion  of  the  resigna 
tion  of  the  ministry.  This  I  expected.  He  says  they 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  553 

have  reproached  Monciel,  who  retorted  smartly.  On  the 
ground  of  these  reproaches  we  prepare  heads  of  a  dis 
course  for  Monciel,  in  the  view,  if  their  Majesties  come 
round,  to  strike  a  still  more  important  stroke.  I  think 
there  is  a  want  of  mettle  which  will  ever  prevent  them 
from  being  truly  royal. 

"  The  present  intention  of  the  King  is  to  secure  the 
liberty  of  France.  I  doubt  whether  he  will  be  sufficiently 
master  of  his  own  party  to  execute  such  purpose  ; 
whether  he  will  live  through  the  storm  is  uncertain.  It 
will  blow  hard.  The  exterior  enemy  hovers  over  his  prey 
and  only  seems  to  wait  the  moment  which  he  has  fixed  to 
himself  for  his  own  stroke.  New  parties  to  the  Grand  Al 
liance  daily  show  themselves.  The  Palatinate  has  de 
clared.  Holland  seems  on  the  point  of  adhering,  and 
doubts  in  regard  to  England  begin  to  appear.  The  force 
which  France  can  oppose  to  her  numerous  assailants  does 
not  exceed  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  undisci 
plined  men,  some  of  whom  wait  but  the  opportunity  to 
desert.  Against  her  are  collected  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  of  the  best  troops  in  Europe,  under  the  com 
mand  of  the  ablest  general  in  this  hemisphere.  The  in 
tention  was  not  to  enter  before  the  harvest,  in  order  that 
subsistence  might  be  easily  procured.  Whether  this  plan 
will  be  changed  in  consequence  of  what  is  like  to  happen 
here,  I  cannot  say.  I  rather  think  it  will.  I  understand 
that  the  manifesto*  which  precedes  attack  will  disavow  the 
Constitution,  and  claim  for  the  King  (what  it  calls)  his 


*  The  manifesto  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  which  was  dated  the  25th  of 
July,  at  Coblentz,  and  printed  in  all  the  royalist  newspapers  in  Paris  on  the 
a8th,  actually  contained  all  the  startling  details  which  Morris  notes  ;  and 
the  knowledge  that  Paris  was  to  be  invaded  by  enemies — by  Austrians  and 
Prussians — led  by  a  general  whose  language  was  so  haughty  and  whose 
threats  were  so  violent,  produced  from  all  quarters  promises  of  active  resist- 


554  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

rights,  for  the  clergy  \\.s  possessions  ;  that  this  city  will  be 
rendered  responsible  for  the  royal  family  ;  that  the 
Garde  Nationale  will  be  considered  as  armed  peasants, 
meddling  with  business  not  their  own,  and  therefore  not 
under  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  war.  The  allied 
monarchs  are  to  declare  themselves  in  arms,  not  against 
France  but  against  the  rfooltes.  It  will  be  easily  seen  that 
these  broad  terms  will  mean  whatever  power  may  choose 
to  explain  them  to." 

"  I  go  to  Court  to-day  [July  i2th]  ;  the  countenances  of 
their  Majesties  are  a  little  down.  Bremond  tells  me  that 
Pellin  blames  Monciel  for  precipitation,  and  says  that 
things  may  yet  be  arranged.  Monciel  is  to  have  an  inter 
view  with  the  King  and  Queen  this  morning.  Go  to  Lady 
Sutherland's,  and  find  her  alone.  We  talk  of  love  and 
love's  despot,  till  an  old  man  comes  in  to  give  the  history 
of  his  gout.  I  leave  her  in  this  society,  so  as  to  make  a 
relief  of  his  ennui." 

By  the  i2th  of  July  Morris's  house,  No.  488  Rue  de 
la  Planche,  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  was  ready  for  occupa 
tion,  and,  to  judge  from  the  allusions  he  makes  to  furni 
ture,  porcelain,  and  hangings,  to  his  garden,  and  the 
general  arrangement  of  the  house,  it  must  have  been 
eminently  fitted  for  the  entertaining  and  lavish  hospi 
tality  which  characterized  it.  Nothing  had  been  forgot 
ten — certainly  not  the  wine-cellar,  which  seemed,  in  its 
completeness,  not  to  disgrace  the  rest  of  the  establish 
ment,  with  a  "  tun  "  of  sauterne,  and  "  a  'tun  '  of  the  best 
claret,  not  the  wine  prepared  for  English  consumption," 
to  say  nothing  of  pipes  of  Madeira  and  port.  A  series 
of  dinner  parties  began  on  the  lyth,  when,  he  says  : 

"  M.  and  Madame  de  Montmorin  and  Madame  de 
Beaumont,  Lord  Gower  and  Lady  Sutherland,  and  Hus- 
kisson,  secretary  to  Lord  Gower,  the  Venetian  Ambassador, 


I792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  555 

and  Spanish  Charge  d' Affaires  dine  with  me.  In  the 
evening  M.  de  Montmorin  takes  me  into  the  garden  to 
communicate  the  situation  of  things  and  ask  my  opinion. 
I  tell  him  that  I  think  the  King  should  quit  Paris.  He 
thinks  otherwise,  and  fosters  a  thousand  empty  hopes  and 
vain  expectations." 

"  This  morning  [July  i8th]  M.  Bremond  does  not  come, 
and  his  friend  Monciel  is  fairly  out  of  the  administration. 
A  message  from  Paul  Jones  that  he  is  dying.  I  go 
thither,  and  make  his  will,  which  the  Frenchmen  will  not 
witness.  Send  for  a  notary,  and  leave  him  struggling 
with  his  enemy  between  four  and  five.  Dine  en  famille 
with  Lord  Gower  and  Lady  Sutherland.  Go  to  the 
Louvre,  and  take  Madame  de  Flahaut  and  Vicq  d'Azyr  to 
Jones's  lodgings — but  he  is  dead,  not  yet  cold.  The  peo 
ple  of  the  house  ask  me  if  they  must  put  a  scellt  on  his 
papers.  I  answer  in  the  affirmative." 

"This  morning  [July  2oth]  Bremond  calls,  and  tells  me 
that  in  consequence  of  the  mc'moire  which  he  made  up 
from  my  hints,  and  which  Monciel  presented  to  the  King, 
a  conversation  has  taken  place  between  him,  M.  de  Mont 
morin,  and  M.  de  Bertrand.  He  gives  me  the  heads  of  the 
manifesto  which  is  to  appear,  and  desires  to  know  what 
step  the  King  is  to  take  in  consequence  of  it.  He  tells 
me  that  Mallet  du  Pin  is  sent  by  Bertrand  to  be  the  sec 
retary  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick.  I  have  a  large  com 
pany  to  dinner." 

"The  Fedfots  begin  to  insult  the  Assembly  [July  22d]. 
Monciel  will  be  with  me  to-morrow,  Bremond  tells  me. 
Dress  and  go  to  Court.  There  are  fresh  accounts  of  mur 
ders  and  assassinations  from  the  South  of  France." 

"  Monciel  brings  me  the  King's  money  [July  24th]  at 
His  Majesty's  request,  who  tells  him  at  the  same  time 
that  I  have  always  given  him  good  advice  and  he  has 


556  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

the  greatest  confidence  in  me.  We  consider  what  is  to 
be  done  in  case  of  a  suspension.  Monciel  is  to  dine  with 
me." 

For  obvious  reasons,  Morris  never  does  more  than  in 
timate  that  he  was  assisting  to  form  a  plan  for  the  king's 
escape.  Events  moved  rapidly  towards  the  climax  after 
which  no  scheme  for  the  king's  safety  could  be  of  any  use. 
But  that  a  plan  was  matured  there  is  every  reason  for  be-' 
lieving,  from  the  following  letter  found  amongst  Morris's 
papers,  in  his  own  handwriting,  but  undated,  unsigned, 
and  only  addressed  to  "  Son  Altesse  Royale."  There 
is  also  every  reason  to  believe  that  this  letter  was  written 
at  Vienna  in  December,  1796,  for  on  Tuesday,  the  2oth, 
Morris  says  in  his  diary  :  "  This  morning  I  go  to  Court 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  my  respects  to  the  Princess 
of  France,  and  in  the  hope  that  an  opportunity  would 
offer  of  saying  a  word  of  business  which  concerns  her, 
but  find  that  she  has  a  large  circle.  I  am  therefore 
led  to  mention  the  subject  concisely  to  the  Bishop  of 
Nancy,  who  undertakes  to  open  the  affair  to  the  grande 
maitresse,  through  whom  it  may  pass  to  her  Royal  High 
ness."  A  week  later,  when  about  to  leave  Vienna,  Mor 
ris  again  saw  the  Bishop  of  Nancy.  "  He  tells  me,"  he 
says,  "that  the  Princess  has  given  no  private  audience 
to  anyone  since  her  arrival,  and  found  it  proper  to  refuse 
it  even  to  Count  Fersen,  who  had  been  so  long  and  so  in 
timately  associated  with  the  Queen.  Her  Royal  Highness 
prays  therefore  that  I  will  send  her  a  note  in  writing,  and, 
if  afterwards  a  few  words  should  be  necessary,  I  can  take 
leave  of  her,  and  then,  without  breaking  in  on  the  estab 
lished  rule,  such  short  conversation  can  take  place.  I 
tell  him  I  shall  write  as  much  as  my  time  will  admit,  but 
as  for  an  audience  of  leave,  I  consider  that  as  improper, 
because  I  shall  not  take  leave  of  the  Imperial  family  ; 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  557 

but  that  her  Royal  Highness  may  decide  as  she  thinks 
proper." 

There  is  no  mention  that  the  leave-taking  ever  took 
place,  but  the  following  letter  undoubtedly  contains  that 
which  Mr.  Morris  wished  to  communicate  to  the  Princess  : 

"  Son  Altesse  Royale  recevra  ci-jointe  la  copie  du  seul 
compte  que  les  circonstances  aient  permis  de  tenir.  11 

lui  en  faut  une  explication.  M.  M ,  qui  s'etait  permis 

quelquefois  de  faire  passer  ses  idees  sur  les  affaires  pu- 
bliques  a  Leurs  Majestes,  confia  aux  soins  de  M.  le  Comte 
de  Montmorin,  lorsqu'il  s'agissait  d'accepter  1'acte  fatal 
qu'on  nommait  la  Constitution  franeaise,  un  memoire  en 
anglais  accompagne  d'un  projet  de  discours  en  francais. 
Le  premier,  qui  etait  le  plus  essentiel,  en  ce  qu'il  devait 
servir  de  base  a  1'autre,  ne  fut  presente  au  roi  qu'apres  son 
acceptation.  Sa  Majeste  desirait  en  avoir  une  traduction, 
et  M.  de  Montmorin  pria  1'auteur  de  s'en  charger.  II  le 
fit  en  effet,  mais  il  1'envoya  directement  au  roi,  en  s'excu- 
saut  des  expressions  qui  devraient  paraitre  trop  fortes. 
Sa  Majeste  avait  concu  des  idees  semblables  a  celles 
enoncees  dans  le  projet  de  discours,  detaillees  et  appuye"es 
par  le  memoire,  et  elle  ne  les  abandonna  qu'a  regret ;  ainsi 
elle  vit,  dans  la  conduite  de  M.  de  Montmorin,  une  finesse 
qui  altera  beaucoup  sa  confiance.  Sa  position  affreuse 
1'avait  pourtant  mise  dans  la  necessite  de  se  servir  de  per- 
sonnes  qui  lui  etaient  a  peine  connues.  Parmi  ceux  que 
les  circonstances  avaient  portes  au  ministere,  se  trouvait 

M.  Terrier  de  Monciel,  tin  homme  que  M.  M avait 

connu  pour  etre  fidele  au  roi,  quoiqu'il  cut  des  liaisons 
a  juste  titre  suspectes.  II  crut  done  devoir  dire  a  Sa 
Majeste"  qu'elle  pouvait  s'y  fier.  II  en  resulta  qu'il  fut 
charge  par  elle  de  1'affaire  la  plus  importante,  c'est  a  dire, 
d'aviser  aux  moyens  de  tirer  le  roi  de  sa  perilleuse  situ 
ation.  II  cut  a  cet  effet  des  consultations  frequentes  avec 


558  DIARY   AND   LETTERS    OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

M.   M ,   et  parmi    les  differents   moyents  qui   se    pre- 

senterent,  celui  qui  leur  parut  le  plus  essentiel  fut  de  faire 
sortir  la  famille  royale  de  Paris.  Les  mesures  etaient  si 
bien  prises  a  cet  effet  que  le  succes  en  etait  presque  im- 
manquable,  mais  le  roi  (pour  des  raisons  qu'il  est  inutile 
de  detailler  ici)  renonca  au  projet  le  matin  meme  fixe 
pour  son  depart,  alors  que  les  gardes  suisses  etaient  deja 
partis  de  Courbevoie  pour  couvrir  sa  retraite.  Ses  mi- 
nistres,  qui  se  trouvaient  gravement  compromis,  donnerent 
tous  leur  demission.  Le  moment  etait  d'autant  plus 
critique  que  Sa  Majeste  tenait  deja  les  preuves  de  la 
conspiration  tramee  centre  sa  personne.  II  ne  lui  restait 
alors  qu'un  seul  moyen.  II  fallait  remporter  la  victoire 
dans  le  combat  qu'on  allait  lui  livrer  aussitot  que  les 
conspirateurs  se  trouveraient  en  force.  M.  de  Monciel, 
apres  avoir  eu  une  explication  avec  Leurs  Majestes,  con- 
sentit  a  les  servir  encore,  quoiqu'il  ne  fut  plus  au  minis- 
tere.  On  s'occupa  de  lever  a  la  hate  une  espece  d'armee 
royale,  chose  extremement  delicate,  et  qui  ne  pouvait  que 
compromettre  ceux  qui  s'en  etaient  meles,  si  les  ennemis 
du  roi  avaient  le  dessus.  M.  de  Monciel  associa  a  ses 
travaux  M.  Bremond,  un  homme  courageux,  zele,  fidele, 
mais  emporte,  bavard  et  imprudent.  Cette  derniere 
qualite  etait  presque  essentielle,  puisque  la  situation  de 
la  famille  royale  eloignait  ceux  dont  le  zele  pouvait  etre 
refroidi  par  les  dangers.  Vers  la  fin  du  mois  de  juillet, 

Sa  Majeste  fit  remercier  M.  M des  conseils  qu'il   lui 

avait  donnes,  et  lui  temoigna  son  regret  de  ne  les  avoir 
pas  suivis — enfin  le  pria  de  surveiller  ce  qu'on  faisait 
pour  son  service  et  de  devenir  depositaire  de  ses  papiers 
et  de  son  argent.  II  repondit  que  Sa  Majeste  pouvait 
toujours  compter  sur  tous  ses  efforts,  que  sa  maison  ne 
lui  paraissait  pas  plus  sure  que  le  palais  des  Tuileries, 
puisqu'il  etait  en  but  depuis  longtemps  a  la  haine  des 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  559 

conspirateurs,  qu'ainsi  ni  les  papiers  ni  1'argent  du  roi 
ne  seraient  en  surete  chez  lui.  Mais  comme  cet  argent 
ne  portait  aucune  marque  de  propriete  il  consentirait,  si 
Sa  Majeste  ne  pouvait  pas  trouver  une  autre  personne,  a 
en  devenir  le  depositaire  et  a.  en  faire  1'emploi  qu'elle 
voudrait  bien  lui  indiquer.  En  consequence  du  consente- 
ment  ainsi  donne,  M.  de  Monciel  lui  apporta,  le  22  juillet, 
547,000  livres,  dont  539,005  livres  etaient  deja  la,  le  deux 
aout,  en  train  d'etre  employees  conformement  aux  ordres 
du  roi.  La  somme  de  449,750  livres,  payee  le  deux  aout, 
devait  etre  convertie  par  Bremond  en  louis  d'or.  II  en 
acheta  effectivement  5,000,  et  les  mit  en  bourses  de  20 
louis,  car  il  s'agissait  d'en  faire  la  distribution  a  des  per- 
sonnes  qui  devaient  se  transporter  avec  des  affides  aux 
endroits  qui  leur  seraient  indiques  et  s'y  battre  sous 
leurs  chefs.  Et  pour  rendre  ces  contre-conspirateurs 
encore  plus  utiles,  il  s'agissait  de  prendre  par  preference 
des  Marseillais  et  autres  agents  des  conspirateurs.  Au-ssi, 
afin  que  le  roi  ne  fut  pas  trompe,  il  etait  convenu  que  le 
paiement  ne  se  ferait  que  lorsque  les  services  auraient 
ete  rendus.  En  attendant,  les  5,000  louis  resterent  chez 

M.  M .     Les  evenements  du  dix  aout  sont  trop  connus 

pour  qu'on  puisse  se  permettre  d'en  faire  le  penible  recit 
Ce  jour-la,  M.  de  Monciel  apporta  200,000  livres,  en  se 

refugiant  avec  sa  famille  chez  M.  M ,  ainsi  que  plu- 

sieurs  autres  personnes.  Apres  quelques  jours,  il  se  trouva 
dans  la  necessite  de  se  cacher.  Bremond  1'avait  deja  fait 
quelque  part  ailleurs,  et  Madame  de  Monciel  fut  chargee 
de  faire  les  demarches  necessaires  pour  sauver  les  per 
sonnes  qui  etaient  compromises,  et  qui  pouvaient  d'autant 
plus  compromettre  le  roi  qu'elles  e"taient  connues  et  que 
leurs  operations  etaient  fortement  soupconnees. 

"  D'Angr^mont  fut  pris  et  sacrifie,  mais  il  eut  le  courage 
de  se  taire.     A  force  d'argent,  on  trouva  moyen  de  faire 


560  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

evader  les  uns  et  cacher  les  autres.  Sur  ces  entrefaites 
Bremond  envoya  une  personne,  qu'il  avail  initiee  au  se 
cret,  chercher  les  5,000  louis,  qui  lui  furent  payes,  d'abord 
parce  qu'il  ne  fallait  pas  donner  occasion  a  un  homme 
du  caractere  de  Bremond  de  dire  ou  de  faire  des  folies, 
mais  principalement  parce  qu'on  croyait  que  de  concert 
avec  M.  de  Monciel,  il  allait  employer  cette  somme  a 
quelque  service  essentiel,  mais  il  n'y  avait  aucun  projet 
de  cette  espece.  Au  contraire,  Bremond,  avec  une  legerete 
inconcevable,  avait  trahi  un  secret  important,  afin  de  met- 
tre  une  assez  forte  somme  entre  des  mains  d'ou,  jusqu'a 
present,  on  n'a  pas  pu  en  tirer  un  sou.  Lorsque  le  due  de 

Brunswick  fut  entre  en   France,  M.  M ,  persuade  que 

s'il  arrivait  jusqu'a  Paris  les  assignats  ne  seraient  que 
d'une  mince  valeur,  et  sachant  d'ailleurs  les  projets  extra- 
vagants  de  ceux  qui  regentaient  la  France,  fit  la  remise,  en 
Angleterre,  de  104,800  livres,  valant  alors  ^£2,518,  afin  de 
mettre  cette  somme  a  1'abri  des  evenements.  II  en  fit 
payer  a  peu  pres  le  quart  (600  livres  sterling)  a  M.  de  Mon 
ciel,  qui  se  trouvait  alors  a  Londres,  et  negotia  des  traites 
pour  le  reste,  afin  de  faire  face  a  une  demande  que  lui  fai- 
sait  Madame  de  Monciel.  Enfin  il  resta  la  somme  de 
6,715  livres,  qu'il  conserva  toujours  a  sa  disposition  jus 
qu'a  ce  qu'il  cut  enfin  la  satisfaction  d'apprendre  que  tous 
ceux  dont  les  aveux  auraient  pu  etre  employes  par  les 
ennemis  du  roi  pour  motiver  leur  inculpation,  etaient 
en  lieu  de  surete.  II  est  vrai  que  ces  accusations 
etaient  fausses  et  calomnieuses,  puisque  le  roi  n'avait  eu 
d'autre  objet  que  celui  de  se  defendre.  Mais  le  succes 
etait  pour  eux,  et  les  conspirateurs  n'auraient  pas  man 
que  de  faire  valoir  les  faits  ci-dessus  enonces.  L'appoint 
de  6,715  livres  a  subi  le  sort  des  assignats  et  a  perdu  de 

sa  valeur,  mais  on  peut  estimer  le  change  a  raison  de ; 

et  c'est  cette  somme  que  M.  M aura  1'honneur  de  payer 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  561 

a  la  personne  que  Son  Altesse  Royale  voudra  bien  avoir 
la  bonte  de  lui  designer.  Au  moment  de  la  remise,  le 
change  etait  17^.  II  etait  parti  de  Londres  pour  aller  en 
Suisse  y  travailler  a  la  rentree  des  5,000  louis,  pour  venir 
les  verser  entre  les  mains  de  Son  Altesse  Royale.  Mais 
les  circonstances  lui  boucherent  le  chemin  de  la  Suisse. 
II  est  done  venu  a  Vienne,  n'y  ayant  d'autre  objet  que  de 
communiquer  les  faits  ci-dessus  mentionnes.  II  vit  avec 
regret,  non  seulement  que  les  demarches  faites  pour  la  res 
titution  ont  etejusqu'a  present  infructueuses,  mais  aussi 
qu'on  commence  a  manifester,  a  ce  sujet,  des  pretentions 
extraordinaires.  Le  recit  minutieux  en  serait  trop  volu- 
mineux,  d'ailleurs,  le  resume  d'une  partie  de  ce  que  M. 

M desirait  dire  a  la  princesse,  se  trouve  ecrit  ci-dessus, 

et  son  bon  esprit  en  devinera  le  reste.  Elle  apprendra 
facilement  combien  il  est  essentiel  de  tenir  secret,  autant 
que  possible,  des  faits  qui  regardent  de  si  pre"s  le  meilleur 
et  le  plus  malheureux  des  rois.  II  supplie  Son  Altesse 
Royale  d'agreer  rhommage  de  son  inviolable  attache- 
ment."  * 

*  TRANSLATION  OF  ABOVE  LETTER. — Her  Royal  Highness  will  find  en 
closed  the  only  account  which  could  be  kept,  under  the  circumstances.     An 

explanation  is  here  necessary.     Mr.  M ,  who  sometimes  allowed  himself 

to  submit  to  their  Majesties  his  ideas  concerning  public  affairs,  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Count  Montmorin  (before  the  acceptance  of  the  fatal  law  called 
the  French  Constitution)  a  memorandum  in  English  with  the  draft  of  a  pro 
posed  French  speech.  The  memorandum — the  more  important  of  the  two 
documents,  as  it  explained  the  other — was  submitted  to  the  king,  but  only 
after  his  acceptance.  His  Majesty  asked  for  a  translation,  and  M.  de  Mont 
morin  requested  the  author  to  undertake  the  work.  He  did  so,  but  sent  the 
whole  to  His  Majesty  direct,  begging  to  be  pardoned  some  of  his  expres 
sions,  perhaps  too  energetic.  His  Majesty  had  conceived  opinions  similar 
to  those  expressed  in  the  proposed  speech,  and  sustained  by  the  arguments 
of  the  memorandum  ;  the  king  regretted  to  have  to  give  up  these  ideas. 
The  conduct  of  M.  de  Montmorin  thus  appeared  too  sharp,  and  the  confi 
dence  His  Majesty  entertained  until  then  in  this  nobleman  became  clouded. 
But  the  king's  fearful  situation  forced  His  Majesty  to  make  use  of  persons 
but  imperfectly  known.  Among  those  brought,  through  circumstances,  to 
enter  the  ministry,  was  a  M.  Terier  de  Monciel,  a  man  known  by  Mr. 
36 


562  DIARY  AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

But  to  return,  after  this  long  digression,  to  events  in 
Paris,  and  to  the  diary. 

"To-day  [July  25th]  I  have  several  visitors,  among  the 
rest  Mr.  Francis,  who  is  just  arrived  by  the  way  of  Valen 
ciennes.  He  says  that  things  are  in  the  most  deplorable 

M to  be  faithful  to  the  king,  in  spite  of  his  more  than  suspicious  connec 
tions.  Mr.  M made,  therefore,  bold  to  state  to  His  Majesty  that  the 

king  could  confide  in  M.  de  Monciel.  The  result  was  that  this  gentleman 
was  intrusted  with  the  most  important  of  all  undertakings,  that  of  extricat 
ing  His  Majesty  from  his  perilous  situation.  M.  de  Monciel  had  frequent 

consultations  with  Mr.  M ,  and,  among  the  many  means  suggested,  the 

most  essential  was  found  to  be  the  departure  of  the  royal  family.  All 
measures  to  that  end  were  so  well  taken  that  success  seemed  infallible  ;  but 
the  king  (for  reasons  it  is  useless  to  mention  here)  gave  the  plan  up,  the 
very  morning  fixed  for  the  departure,  even  after  the  Swiss  Guard  had  left 
Courbevoie  to  help  to  cover  His  Majesty's  retreat.  The  ministers,  all  grave 
ly  compromised,  handed  in  their  resignations.  The  moment  was  critical  in- 
»  deed,  as  His  Majesty  already  possessed  proofs  of  the  plot  concocted  against 
his  safety.  One  issue  only  was  left  to  the  king  ;  to  come  out  victorious  from 
the  imminent  struggle,  to  take  place  as  soon  as  the  conspirators  should  think 
themselves  sufficiently  strong.  M.  de  Monciel,  having  conversed  with  their 
Majesties,  consented  to  serve  them  again  in  this  matter,  although  out  of  the 
ministry.  He  busied  himself,  with  others,  to  raise  a  sort  of  Royal  Army,  a 
very  delicate  task,  that  could  but  endanger  the  fate  of  all  those  who  would 
take  part  in  it  if  the  enemies  of  the  king  should  triumph.  M.  de  Monciel 
took  as  his  coadjutor  a  M.  Bremond,  a  man  full  of  courage,  zeal,  and  fidel 
ity,  but  hot-headed,  talkative,  and  imprudent.  The  latter  defect  was  prob 
ably  an  essential  quality,  since  the  situation  in  which  the  royal  family 
found  itself  kept  away  all  those  whose  zeal  cooled  off  in  presence  of  such 

dangers.     Toward  the  end  of  July  His  Majesty  caused  Mr.   M to  be 

thanked,  in  the  king's  name,  for  the  advice  given,  stating  at  the  same  time 
His  Majesty's  regret  not  to  have  followed  it.  The  king  requested  also  Mr. 
M to  have  an  eye  on  what  was  done  for  His  Majesty's  service,  and  to  ac 
cept  the  deposit  of  the  king's  moneys  and  papers.  The  answer  stated  that 

His  Majesty  could  always  depend  on  Mr.  M s'  best  efforts,  but  that  his 

house  did  not  appear  to  him  any  more  secure  than  the  Tuileries,  as  Mr. 

M had  been  for  so   long  the   object   of  the  conspirators'  hatred   that 

neither  the  papers  nor  the  money  of  the  king  would  be  safe  in  Mr.  M 's 

house.  For  the  money,  as  it  bore  no  distinctive  mark  of  proprietorship,  he 
would  consent  to  take  charge  of  it  and  to  make  such  use  of  it  as  might  be  or 
dered,  in  case  His  Majesty  could  find  no  one  else  for  the  trust.  As  the  result 

of  his  consent,  M.  de  Monciel  brought  to  Mr.  M ,  on  the  22d  of  July,  547,000 

livres,  539,000  of  which  were  still  there  on  August  2d,  being  used  according 
to  the  king's  orders.  The  sum  of  449,750  livres,  paid  out  on  August  2d,  were 
to  be  converted  by  Bremond  into  louis  d'or.  He  bought  actually  5,000  louis 


1792]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  $63 

situation  ;  that  the  Austrians  speak  of  spending  the  win 
ter  at  Paris  with  the  utmost  confidence  ;  that  the  French 
seem  totally  discouraged.  I  go  to  the  Louvre  for  a  mo 
ment.  Find  there  M.  de  Schomberg,  and  the  Bishop 
d'Autun  comes  in  soon  afterwards.  I  meet  him  on  the 

d'or  and  divided  them  in  twenty-louis  purses.  These  were  to  be  distributed 
to  various  persons  who  chose  to  follow  the  initiated  ones  to  such  places  where 
they  would  have  to  fight  under  appointed  chiefs.  To  render  these  counter- 
conspirators  even  more  useful,  they  were  to  be  chosen,  by  preference,  among 
Marseillais  and  other  agents  of  the  conspirators.  Therefore,  so  as  to  avoid 
deceit,  it  was  agreed  that  the  moneys  were  to  be  paid  only  after  the  services 
should  have  been  rendered.  In  the  meantime  the  5,000  louis  remained  in 

Mr.  M 's  house.     The  events  of  the  loth  of  August  are  too  well  known  to 

necessitate  a  rehearsal  of  such  a  painful  story.  On  that  day  M.  de  Mon- 
ciel,  as  he  took  refuge  with  his  family  and  several  other  persons  at  Mr. 

M 's,  brought  with  him  200,000  livres.     A  few  days  later  he  was  forced  to 

go  into  hiding.  Bremond  was  already  hidden  somewhere  else,  and  Madame 
de  Monciel  had  to  do  her  best  to  save  the  most  compromised  ones,  those 
who  could  endanger  the  king  all  the  more  because  they  were  well  known 
and  their  acts  strongly  suspected. 

D'Angremont  was  captured  and  sacrificed  ;  he  had  the  courage  to  keep 
silent.  By  means  of  money,  they  managed  to  have  some  of  the  others  es 
cape,  and  some  kept  in  hiding.  At  that  time,  Bremond  sent  a  person  he  had 
confided  the  secret  to,  for  the  5,000  louis  d'or,  and  they  were  paid  him,  not 
only  because  it  was  important  not  to  give  to  a  man  of  Bremond's  temper  any 
occasion  for  some  insane  outburst,  in  deed  or  speech,  but  more  especially 
because  it  was  believed  that  he  had  agreed  with  M.  de  Monciel  to  use  that 
money  to  help  some  essential  undertaking.  But  there  was  no  project  of  the 
kind.  Much  to  the  contrary,  Bremond  had,  with  an  inconceivable  imprudence, 
betrayed  an  important  secret  so  as  to  place  a  pretty  large  sum  in  hands  out 
of  which  it  has  since  been  found  impossible  to  withdraw  one  sou.  When  the 

Duke  of  Brunswick  entered  France,  Mr.  M ,  persuaded  that  if  his  Royal 

Highness  reached  Paris  the  assignats  (paper-money)  would  have  but  an  in 
significant  value,  and  knowing,  besides,  how  extravagant  were  the  plans  of 
the  rulers  of  France,  sent  to  England  104,800  livres,  a  value,  at  the  time,  of 
£2,518,  placing  thus  this  sum  out  of  the  fluctuations  of  events.  About  one- 
fourth  G£6oo)  of  it  he  caused  to  be  paid  to  M.  de  Monciel,  then  in  London, 
and  also  negotiated  drafts  for  the  remainder,  to  satisfy  Madame  de  Monciel's 

demands.     Finally,  there  remained  the  sum  of  6,715  livres,  which  Mr.  M 

kept  until  satisfied  that  all  those  whose  statements  could  have  been  made 
use  of  by  the  enemies  of  the  king  to  legitimatize  their  accusations  were  fully 
out  of  reach.  Of  course,  such  accusations  were  false  and  slanderous,  as  the 
king  had  simply  been  acting  in  self-defence.  But  the  conspirators  had  suc 
cess  in  their  favor,  and  would  not  have  failed  to  make  use  of  the  facts  above 
stated.  The  remaining  6,715  livres  have  had  the  fate  of  the  assignats,  and 


564  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

stairs,  and  he  expresses  politely  his  misfortune  to  come 
always  as  I  go  away.  He  will  have  frequently  that  mis 
fortune.  At  a  little  after  two  M.  Monciel,  and  then  M. 
Bertrand  de  Molleville,  come.  I  read  the  mdmoires  written 
for  the  King  at  the  time  of  his  acceptance  of  the  Constitu 
tion.  We  dine,  and  after  dinner  read  the  plan  of  a  con 
stitution  ;  then  discuss  the  steps  which  the  King  is  to  take. 
M.  Bertrand  is  a  stickler  for  the  ancien  regime,  but  we 
drive  him  a  little  out  of  his  opinion,  which  he  will,  I  think, 
come  back  to  again.  He  is  to  prepare  to-morrow  the 
form  of  a  letter  to  accompany  the  manifest.  Monciel  is 
to  be  with  him,  which  is  right." 

"  Dine  at  the  Louvre  [July  26th].  Madame  de  Flahaut 
mentions  a  conspiracy  against  the  life  of  the  King,  but 
will  not  name  her  informant.  I  talk  to  her  very  seriously 
and  near  to  scolding.  Come  home  at  six,  and  meet  Mon 
ciel,  who  tells  me  that  Bertrand  de  Molleville  has  begun 
his  work  by  mention  of  the  cahiers,  which  is  idle  enough. 
He  is  to  see  the  King  at  eleven  and  give  him  the  result  of 
the  measures  which  I  have  proposed,  and  which  we  have 
discussed." 

"  Bremond,  Monciel,  and  I  work  all  the  morning  [July 
2yth]  to  prepare  some  me'moires  for  the  King." 

lost  much  of  their  value.     One  can  fix  the  exchange  rate  at .     That  sum 

Mr.  M will  have  the  honor  of  paying  to  any  person  her  Royal  High 
ness  may  kindly  designate.  He  had  started  for  Switzerland,  in  an  attempt 
to  bring  about  the  repayment  of  the  5,000  louis,  but  circumstances  have 
closed  the  road  to  Switzerland.  He  has  therefore  come  to  Vienna,  solely  to 

communicate  the  above  facts.    Mr.  M sees,  with  regret,  that  not  only  have 

all  attempts  toward  a  restitution  of  the  sum  been  fruitless,  but  that  the  most 
extraordinary  excuses  are  put  forward  in  the  matter.  A  detailed  narrative 

would  occupy  too  much  space  ;  a  resume  of  what  Mr.  M desired  to  be 

submitted  to  her  Royal  Highness  is  to  be  found  herein.  Her  good  sense 
will  complete  it.  Thus  will  her  Royal  Highness  be  shown  now  necessary 
it  is  to  keep  secret  all  that  concerns  so  closely  the  best  and  most  unfortunate 
of  kings.  Mr.  M earnestly  begs  her  Royal  Highness  to  accept  the  hom 
age  of  his  inviolable  attachment. 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  565 

"  We  finished  the  form  of  a  letter  from  the  King  to  the 
Assembly  yesterday,  and  to-day  [July  2pth]  we  make  an 
addition  to  the  letter.  Bremond  tells  me  that  he  is  to  ac 
cept  the  place  of  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs." 

"  To-day  [July  3oth]  M.  Monciel  called  to  tell  me  that 
he  has  delivered  to  the  King  the  letter,  and  one  from  M. 
Bertrand  de  Molleville,  on  which  he  has  communicated  his 
observations.  I  go  in  the  evening  to  Madame  d'Albani's. 
When  I  arrive  there  I  find  them  all  terrified  at  a  riot  in 
which  the  Marseillais*  have  killed  one  or  two  of  the  Garde 
Nationale.  There  is  a  great  stir  in  Paris,  but  I  think  the 
business  is  over  for  the  evening." 

The  riots  of  July  30th  were  not  the  least  of  the  many 
events  of  the  eventful  year  1792,  which  terrified  Paris. 
Under  pretence  of  guarding  Petion's  life  against  a  sup 
posed  attack,  he  being  at  the  moment  the  popular  hero, 
having  been  dismissed  from  his  position  of  mayor  after 
the  affair  of  July  20th,  the  Jacobins  proposed  to  get  to 
gether  three  hundred  men  whose  instructions  would  be 
to  murder  the  royal  family.  The  Jacobin  placard  calling 
for  three  hundred  men  was  printed  in  blue  and  numbered 
41.  Bertrand  de  Molleville  unearthed  the  plot  to  murder 
the  king,  and  hastily  caused  papers  to  be  printed  announc 
ing  the  discovery  of  "  A  horrible  plot  to  destroy  Petion  ;  a 
conspiracy  against  the  national  representative.  The  false 
sans  culottes  unmasked."  These  he  had  numbered  42,  and 
pasted  over  those  numbered  41.  The  imitation  of  the  vio 
lently  patriotic  style  of  the  Sentinelled^,  successful,  imme 
diately  attracted  attention,  and,  before  the  Jacobins  and 
the  owner  of  the  Sentinelle  had  time  to  pull  down  the  plac- 


*  The  famous  band  of  Provencal  volunteers  brought  to  Paris  from  Mar 
seilles,  together  with  all  the  vagabonds  the  Jacobins  could  engage  to  come, 
after  the  king  refused  to  sign  the  decree  to  establish  a  camp  of  20,000  men 
outside  the  city. 


566  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

ard,  all  Paris  had  read  the  notice,  and  the  result  was  a  free 
fight  between  the  men  with  the  fraudulent  placard  and 
the  others. 

"This  morning  M.  Monciel  and  M.  Bremohd  call  to  tell 
me  what  passed  yesterday,  and  what  is  doing  to-day  [July 
3ist].  Bremond  is  furious,  but  after  he  is  gone  we  agree 
not  to  permit  any  of  those  horrible  things  which  his  in 
dignation  would  lead  him  to.  In  the  evening  I  meet 
Monciel  again,  and  he  gives  me  the  bulletins  of  last  even 
ing.  Agree  on  what  is  to  be  done,  and  on  the  message  to 
be  sent  by  M.  Burceau  de  Pazy  to  M.  de  Lafayette." 

In  his  letter  to  Jefferson,  under  date  of  August  ist, 
Morris  says  : 

"  In  my  letter  No.  2  I  mentioned  that  M.  de  Lafayette 
was  about  to  commence  an  attack  upon  the  Jacobin  fac 
tion,  and  my  apprehension  that  it  would  not  be  successful. 
I  verily  believe  that  if  M.  de  Lafayette  were  to  appear  just 
now  in  Paris  unattended  by  his  army  he  would  be  torn  to 
pieces.  In  the  present  state  of  things,  it  seems  evident 
that  if  the  King  be  not  destroyed  he  must  soon  become 
absolute.  I  think  the  prime  movers  of  the  Revolution  see 
no  other  mode  of  establishing  the  affairs  of  their  country 
on  any  tolerable  footing,  and  will  therefore  declare  their 
adherence  to  His  Majesty,  grounded  on  the  abolition  of 
the  Constitution  by  the  Assembly,  and  their  masters,  the 
Jacobin  Club.  Should  my  letter  miscarry,  it  would  occa 
sion  much  of  that  noise  and  nonsense  in  which  it  is  un 
pleasant  to  find  one's  name,  and  the  wrongheaded  people 
cannot  distinguish  between  a  person  who  has  obtained 
exact  information  of  what  is  doing  and  those  who  are 
actors  in  the  business.  For  this  reason  I  must  decline 
mentioning  the  plans  in  agitation,  at  present,  to  establish 
a  good  constitution.  I  dare  not  say  that  I  hope  this  will 
take  place.  I  ardently  wish  it,  but  I  have  doubts  and  fears, 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  567 

because  I  have  no  confidence  in  the  morals  of  the  people. 
The  King  is  anxious  to  secure  their  permanent  happiness, 
but,  alas  !  they  are  not  in  a  state  of  mind  to  receive  good 
from  his  hands.  Suspicion,  that  constant  companion  of 
vice  and  weakness,  has  loosened  every  band  of  social 
union,  and  blasts  every  honest  hope  in  the  moment  of  its 
budding. 

"Some  persons  have  spoken  to  me  of  the  disposition  of 
the  United  States  in  a  tone  of  irony,  but  I  assured  them 
very  sincerely  that  our  grateful  sentiments  for  the  con 
duct  of  this  nation  would  be  demonstrated  by  our  con 
duct  whenever  occasion  should  require  ;  that  the  changes 
they  might  make  in  their  own  administration  would  by  no 
means  affect  our  regard  for  them,  nor  diminish  our  attach 
ment.  As  this  language  was  not  ministerial,  but  held  in 
the  sincerity  of  social  life,  it  surprised  those  who,  unfor 
tunately  for  them,  can  find  for  the  conduct  of  nations  no 
motive  but  interest,  and  are  so  short-sighted  as  not  to  per 
ceive  that  a  virtuous  and  honorable  conduct  is  the  truest 
interest  which  a  nation  can  pursue.  In  respect  to  other 
objects  which  are  committed  to  me,  it  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say  that  nothing  can  be  done  in  the  present  moment. 
Such  time  as  the  Assembly  can  spare  from  the  discussion 
of  party  disputes  is  necessarily  engrossed  by  the  Depart 
ments  of  War  and  Finance.  The  determination  to  sus 
pend  the  King  has  been  a  little  palled  by  the  information 
that  their  armies  would  immediately  revolt,  and  particu 
larly  the  Southern  Army,  on  which  they  made  their  great 
est  reliance.  This  circumstance  has  greatly  deranged  the 
plan  of  operations,  and  the  more  so  as  many  instruments 
specially  convened  and  collected  for  that  grand  stroke  are 
at  present  no  small  incumbrance  to  the  contrivers  of  it. 
Among  these  are  the  Bretons  and  Marseillais,  now  in  this 
city.  Some  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Jacobins  have,  I  am  told, 


£68  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

prepared  the  means  of  their  escape  to  America,  and  among 
them  your  old  acquaintance,  M.  de  Condorcet.  They  are 
to  embark  at  Dunkirk  and  St.  Valery." 

"  This  morning  [August  2d]  M.  de  Monciel  calls  on  me 
and  tells  me  that  they  are  trying  to  send  him  to  Orleans. 
We  agree  on  the  conversion  of  the  King's  paper  into  spe 
cie.  I  go  to  Court ;  afterwards  call  on  the  Minister  of  the 
Marine,  who  is  gone  abroad,  although  he  promised  to  be 
at  home.  St.  Croix  is  appointed  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs." 

"  Monciel  dines  with  me  [August  3d],  and  we  prepare 
an  address  to  the  Marseillais.  I  complain  of  the  appoint 
ment  of  Boncarere  to  Philadelphia,  and  promise  to  speak 
to  the  King  on  the  subject.  Go  after  dinner  to  the 
Louvre,  and  Madame  de  Flahaut  tells  me  that  the  King 
proposed  this  embassy  by  way  of  getting  rid  of  M.  Bon 
carere  ;  that  St.  Croix  objected  he  would  not  be  received, 
but  His  Majesty  said,  *  So  much  the  better.  Let  us  but 
get  rid  of  him.'  " 

"  M.  Bremond  brings  me  this  morning  5,000  louis  d'or, 
which  he  has  purchased.  He  is  to  have  the  correspond 
ence  of  the  Jacobins  for  1,000.  M.  de  Monciel  calls,  and 
we  complete  a  letter  to  be  written  by  the  King  to  the 
President  of  the  Section  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Marceau, 
about  the  River  Bievre,  which  will,  it  is  supposed,  give  His 
Majesty  that  faubourg.  Monciel  tells  me  that  the  King  and 
Queen  are  much  distressed,  and  in  great  apprehension.  I 
dine  at  the  British  ambassador's.  We  walk  after  dinner 
to  the  Champ  de  Mars,  where  we  see  a  few  ragamuffins 
who  are  signing  the  petition  for  the  dJchtance.  I  call  at 
M.  de  Montmorin's,  where  I  find  a  family  in  deep  distress. 
At  my  return  I  find  Lady  Sutherland  at  my  door.  She 
comes  to  obtain  an  interview  between  me  and  the  Cheva 
lier  de  Coigny.  I  tell  her  that  I  will  be  at  home  if  he 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  569 

will  call  on  me  to-morrow.  He  wishes  to  give  my  ideas 
direct  to  the  Queen,  without  passing  through  the  med 
ium  of  M.  de  Montmorin.  They  expect  all  to  be  mur 
dered  this  evening  at  the  Chateau.  The  weather  is  very 
warm." 

"Go  to  Court  this  morning  [August  5th].  Nothing  re 
markable,  only  that  they  were  up  all  night,  expecting  to  be 
murdered.  Come  home  to  meet  M.  St.  Croix.  He  comes 
late.  Tells  me  what  he  is  about.  Mr.  Constable  dines 
with  me,  and  Mr.  Livingston,  whom  I  have  taken  as  my 
private  secretary.  After  dinner  I  go  to  visit  Lady  Suth 
erland,  and  stay  some  time  conversing  with  Lord  Gower. 
The  weather  is  still  hot." 

"  M.  de  Monciel  comes  [August  6th],  and  tells  me  how 
things  are.  M.  and  Madame  de  Flahaut  dine  with  me. 
The  Bishop  d'Autun  and  M.  de  Beaumetz  are  of  the 
party.  The  weather  continues  very  hot.  I  have  a  long 
conversation  with  the  Chevalier  de  Coigny  on  the  state 
of  affairs.  Monciel  also  comes,  and  tells  me  that  the  King 
would  not  listen  to  the  intrusting  his  secret  to  St.  Croix. 
The  public  mind  is  much  better  than  it  was,  and  will 
mend.  We  digest  a  petition  for  the  Marseillais,  calculated 
to  make  the  King  declare  himself.  M.  de  Coigny  is  to 
push  the  same  point  with  the  Queen." 

"This  Wednesday  morning  [August  8th]  Monciel  tells 
me  that  things  are  going  well.  The  King  seems  to  hold 
the  proper  opinions  also,  which  is  a  desirable  thing.  I 
dine  with  Madame  de  Stae'l,  and  after  dinner,  the  gentle 
men  desiring  to  drink,  I  send  for  wine,  and  let  them  get 
preciously  drunk.  Go  to  the  Louvre  and  take  Madame 
de  Flahaut  to  ride.  After  I  set  her  down  I  go  to  Lady 
Sutherland's  and  pay  her  a  pretty  long  visit.  She  will  be 
at  Court  to-morrow.  The  weather  is  very  warm  still." 

"  Paris  is  in  great  agitation  this  morning  [August  pth]. 


DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

M.  de  Monciel  calls,  and  brings  me  some  money.  I  dress 
and  go  to  Court." 

"This  morning  [August  loth]  Monciel  calls,  and  his 
report  is  tranquillizing ;  but  shortly  after  he  leaves  me 
the  cannon  begin,  and  musketry  mingled  with  them  an 
nounce  a  warm  day.  The  Chateau,  undefended  but  by  the 
Swiss,  is  carried,  and  the  Swiss,  wherever  found,  are  mur 
dered.  The  King  and  Queen  are  in  the  National  Assem 
bly,  who  have  decreed  the  suspension  of  his  authority. 
Madame  de  Flahaut  sends  her  son,  and  comes  afterwards 
to  take  refuge.  I  have  company  to  dine,  but  many  of 
those  who  were  invited  do  not  come.  Mr.  Huskisson, 
the  secretary  to  the  British  ambassador,  comes  in  the 
evening.  He  gives  a  sad  account  of  things.  The  weather 
continues  very  warm,  or,  rather,  extremely  hot." 

"  A  sleepless  night  renders  me  heavy  during  this  day 
[August  nth].  The  King  and  Queen  remain  at  the  As 
sembly,  which  goes  on  rapidly  under  the  dicte'e  of  the 
Tribunes.  We  are  quiet  here.  Things  are  taking  on  their 
new  order.  The  weather  continues  to  be  very  hot.  M.  de 
St.  Pardou  calls  in  the  evening,  and  seems  torn  to  pieces 
by  affliction.  I  desire  him,  if  he  sees  the  royal  family,  to 
tell  them  that  relief  must  soon  arrive." 

"This  morning  [August  i2th]  M.  de  Monciel  and  his 
wife  come  before  I  am  up.  I  have  my  time  full  all  day, 
and  am  heartily  fatigued  this  evening.  I  called  in  the 
morning  on  Lady  Sutherland,  who  is  un  peu  abattue. 
The  Venetian  Ambassador  was  abroad,  and  so  was  Ma 
dame  d'Albani.  She  and  the  Comte  Alfieri  come  about 
three  o'clock.  She  is  violently  affected  and  afflicted.  The 
weather  is  very  warm  still  and  oppressive.  The  state  of 
the  air  is  evidenced  by  some  perch  alive  in  the  morning  at 
six  o'clock,  and  spoiled  at  dinner.  So  rapid  a  state  of  pu 
trefaction  I  never  saw." 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  5/1 

"  Four  men,  among  them  a  naturalized  Frenchman, 
come  for  passports  [August  i3th].  Mr.  Amory  calls  for 
the  same  purpose,  and  M.  Montfiorence  to  get  a  passport 
for  Mrs.  Blagden.  Madame  d'Albani  dines  with  me,  and 
requests  me  to  ask  a  passport  for  her  from  the  British 
ambassador.  I  go,  after  dinner,  and  he,  as  I  expected, 
refuses  to  grant  it.  The  weather  is  somewhat  cooler  this 
evening,  having  had  rain." 

"Write  all  the  morning  [August  i4th],  but  I  have  many 
interruptions.  Among  others  who  call  on  me,  Mr.  Francis 
gives  a  dreadful  account  of  what  he  saw  on  the  loth,  and 
says  that  he  shall  not  dare  to  tell  it  in  America.  General 
Duportail  calls  on  me.  He  wishes  to  get  away  from  hence, 
should  things  grow  more  serious." 

In  a  letter,  dated  August  i6th,  to  young  Robert  Mor 
ris,  Morris  says  :  "  Mr.  Constable  is  well,  and  was  a  wit 
ness  to  the  fight,  being  lodged  near  the  Tuileries.  Tell 
your  friend  Jones  that  if  he  were  here  just  now  his  '  Ha  ! 
ha  ! '  would  be  changed  into  '  Ho  !  ho  !  " 

To  Thomas  Pinckney,  then  United  States  Minister  at 
London,  Morris  wrote,  a  few  days  after  the  affair  of  the 
loth  of  August :  "  We  have  had  here  within  the  last  few  days 
some  serious  scenes,  at  which  I  am  not  surprised,  because 
I  foresaw  not  only  a  struggle  between  the  two  corps  which 
the  Constitution  had  organized,  viz.,  the  executive,  so 
called,  and  the  legislative,  but  I  was  convinced  the  latter 
would  get  the  better.  It  is  nevertheless  a  painful  reflec-j 
tion  that  one  of  the  finest  countries  in  the  world  should 
be  so  cruelly  torn  to  pieces.  The  storm  which  lately 
raged  is  a  little  subdued,  but  the  winds  must  soon  rise 
again,  perhaps  from  the  same  quarter,  perhaps  from  an 
other  ;  but  that  is  of  little  consequence.  A  man  attached 
to  his  fellow-man  must  see  with  distress  the  woes  they 
suffer,  but  an  American  has  a  stronger  sympathy  with  this 


572  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

country  than  any  other  observer,  and,  nourished  as  he  is 
in  the  bosom  of  liberty,  he  cannot  but  be  deeply  affected 
to  see  that  in  almost  any  event  this  struggle  must  termi 
nate  in  despotism." 

"  To-day  [August  lyth]  I  take  my  distressed  friend 
Madame  de  Flahaut  to  ride  to  the  Bois  de  Boulogne, 
where  we  walk  till  she  is  tired.  Americans  dine  with  me. 
After  dinner  visit  Lady  Sutherland,  and  after  her  monde  is 
gone  we  take  tea.  It  rains  this  evening  and  is  somewhat 
cooler.  M.  de  St.  Foi,  who  was  here  this  evening,  says 
that  the  treatment  of  the  King,  Queen,  and  royal  family 
is  extremely  ignominious.  He  gives  details  which  are 
painful.  Lord  Gower  is  abundantly  cautious.  Several  of 
the  Corps  Diplomatique  are  going  off.  The  weather  is 
grown  cooler." 

Writing  to  Mr.  Jefferson,  on  the  i8th  of  August,  Mor 
ris  says  :  "  Since  my  last  letter  of  the  ist,  another  revolution 
has  been  effected  in  this  city.  It  was  bloody.  A  very  con 
siderable  party  is  deeply  interested  to  overturn  the  present 
order,  and  the  men  who  compose  the  party  are  the  moder 
ate,  or  middle  men.  I  have  long  been  convinced  that  this 
middle  party,  who,  by  the  by,  were  the  prime  movers  of 
the  Revolution,  must  fall  to  the  ground,  and  that  those 
who  compose  it  must  join  one  of  the  great  factions.  The 
aristocratic  faction  is  still  split  into  two  or  more.  Some 
are  for  absolute  monarchy,  some  for  the  ancient  regime, 
some  few  desire  a  mixed  government.  The  framers  of  the 
late  Constitution  had  got  up  to  this  last  ground,  but  the 
idea  of  an  hereditary  senate  stuck  in  their  throats.  The 
King,  who  has  an  uncommon  firmness  in  suffering  and 
who  has  not  the  talents  for  action,  and  who  is  besides  a 
very  religious  man,  found  himself  fettered  by  his  oaths  to 
the  Constitution,  which  he  in  his  conscience  believed  to  be 
a  bad  one,  and  about  which,  indeed,  there  is  now  but  one 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  573 

opinion  in  this  country,  because  experience,  that  great 
parent  of  wisdom,  has  brought  it  already  to  trial  and  con 
demnation — the  King,  from  the  causes  just  mentioned, 
would  not  step  forward,  and  of  course  there  was  no  stand 
ard  to  which  the  adherents  of  the  two  Chambers  could 
repair.  The  republicans  had  the  good  sense  to  march 
boldly  and  openly  to  their  object,  and,  as  they  took  care 
not  to  mince  matters  nor  embarrass  themselves  by  legal 
or  constitutional  niceties,  they  had  the  advantage  of  union, 
concert,  and  design  against  the  disjointed  members  of  a 
body  without  a  head.  If,  under  these  circumstances,  the 
foreign  force  were  out  of  question,  I  should  have  no 
doubt  that  the  republican  form  would  take  place  qui 
etly  enough  and  continue  as  long  as  the  morals  of  the 
country  would  permit.  You  know  the  state  of  morals 
here  and  can,  of  course  (if  it  be  necessary),  form  the  calcu 
lation  for  yourself.  The  circumstance  of  foreign  force  is, 
however,  on  the  present  occasion,  a  preponderant  object, 
and  I  think  its  effects  will  depend  on  its  activity.  Should 
the  Duke  of  Brunswick  advance  rapidly  he  will  be  joined 
by  great  numbers,  even  of  the  armies  opposed  to  him,  be 
cause  the  late  change  will  furnish  to  some  a  reason  and  to 
others  a  pretext  for  abandoning  the  cause  they  had  es 
poused.  If,  on  the  contrary,  his  progress  be  cautious  and 
slow,  it  is  probable  that  those  who  are  now  silent  from 
fear  will  habituate  themselves  by  degrees  to  speak  favora 
bly  of  the  present  government,  in  order  to  lull  suspicion, 
and  that  thus  a  public  opinion  will  appear  which,  once  pro 
nounced,  governs  the  generality  of  mankind.  If  by  this 
means  the  new  republic  takes  a  better  root,  foreign  pow 
ers  will,  I  believe,  find  it  a  difficult  matter  to  shake  it  to 
the  ground  ;  for  the  French  nation  is  an  immense  mass, 
which  it  is  not  easy  either  to  move  or  to  oppose.  You  will 
observe,  sir,  that  matters  are  now  brought  to  a  simple 


574  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

question  between  an  absolute  monarchy  and  a  republic, 
for  all  middle  terms  are  done  away.  This  question  also 
must  be  decided  by  force,  because  on  one  side  it  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  people,  who  cannot  treat  for  themselves  and 
who  will  not  permit  others  to  treat  for  them,  in  respect  to 
the  important  interests  which  are  now  at  stake.  If,  as  in 
former  times,  some  factious  nobles  are  at  the  head  of  a 
party,  they  would,  as  formerly,  take  the  first  opportunity 
to  stipulate  for  themselves  at  the  expense  of  their  party  ; 
but  without  entering  here  into  a  question  of  relative  integ 
rity,  I  do  not  think  that  the  people  are  so  attached  to  any 
particular  men  as  to  have  what  may  be  called  leaders,  and 
those  who  appear  as  such  are  in  my  opinion  rather  instru 
ments  than  agents.  I  do  not  go  into  the  history  of  things, 
nor  trouble  you  with  a  recapitulation  of  events.  I  enclose 
and  shall  send  by  the  present  opportunity  the  gazettes  since 
my  last,  which  will  communicate  all  particulars  which  you 
may  desire  to  know.  Since  the  operations  of  the  loth 
the  Logographe,  Gazette  Universelle,  and  Indicateur  are  sup 
pressed,  as,  indeed,  are  all  those  who  were  guilty  of  feuill- 
antisme,  that  is,  adherence  to  the  clubs  '  des  feuillants 
soi-disant  constitutionels.'  You  must  therefore  make  al 
lowances  for  what  you  find  in  the  other  gazettes,  writ 
ten  not  only  in  the  spirit  of  a  party  but  under  the  eye 
of  a  party.  The  first  must  influence  the  most  honest 
printer  in  the  coloring  of  some  facts,  and  the  second 
will  restrain  the  boldest  printer  in  the  publishing  of  other 
facts. 

"You  will  find  that  M.  Boncarere  had  been  appointed 
to  the  United  States  as  Minister.  This  man's  character  is 
as  bad  as  need  be,  and  stained  by  infamous  vices.  By 
what  influence  he  was  introduced  into  the  office  of  For 
eign  Affairs  I  know  not,  for  I  was  then  in  England  ;  but  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  the  poor  experiment  of 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  575 

the  feuillants  to  watch  and  check,  and  perhaps  to  betray,  the 
Jacobin  Ministry.  While  the  King  was  pressing  M.  St. 
Croix,  an  eight-day  minister,  to  accept  the  Department  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  this  last  declared  that  he  would  not  serve 
if  Boncarere  was  retained,  and  to  get  rid  of  him  they  in 
vented  the  expedient  of  sending  him  to  America.  I  con 
sidered  this  step  as  a  kind  of  insult,  and  transmitted  my 
sentiments  on  the  subject  to  the  King,  who  thereupon 
told  M.  de  St.  Croix  that  I  was  angry  at  that  appointment, 
and  he  must  arrange  the  matter  with  me  ;  that  he  wished 
I  would  prevent  his  being  received.  The  minister  apolo 
gized  for  the  thing  as  well  as  he  could,  admitting  always 
that  it  was  wrong,  and  added  that  his  embarcation  should 
be  delayed,  and  I  was  at  liberty  to  prevent  his  being  re 
ceived.  To  this  I  replied  that  he  must  not  be  allowed  to 
embark  at  all.  The  minister  refused  to  sign  the  bon  for 
his  appointment.  Then  the  new  revolution  took  place, 
and  the  history  of  M.  Boncarere's  ministry  is  at  an  end. 
Notwithstanding  my  utmost  efforts,  I  have  not  been  able 
to  bring  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  to  consider  the 
question  relating  to  our  debt.  Indeed,  the  executive  of 
the  late  Constitution  has  been  at  the  last  agony  for  this 
three  months,  and  has  thought  more  of  saving  itself  than 
of  doing  its  business.  The  present  executive  is  just  born, 
and  may  perhaps  be  stifled  in  its  cradle." 

Mr.  Morris  very  earnestly  requested  the  President's  or 
ders  respecting  his  line  of  conduct  in  the  circumstances 
about  to  arise.  He  felt,  he  said,  in  a  "  state  of  contingent 
responsibility  of  the  most  delicate  kind,"  and,  not  wishing 
to  avoid  any  fair  and  reasonable  risk,  he  wished  to  have 
his  line  of  conduct  marked  as  exactly  as  possible.  But  to 
resume  the  diary. 

"  This  morning  [August  ipth]  I  take  Madame  de  Fla- 
haut  to  see  her  sister-in-law  at  Versailles.  I  have  some 


576  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

difficulty  as  to  a  passport.    Go  to  the  municipality  of  Ver 
sailles,  which  is  very  polite." 

"Visit  Lady  Sutherland  in  the  afternoon  [August  20th]. 
They  have  received  orders  to  come  home,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  despatch  is  a  threat  if  they  injure  the  King  or  his 
family,  *  because  that  would  excite  the  indignation  of  all 
Europe.'  This  despatch,  turned  into  plain  English,  is 
shortly  that  the  British  Court  resent  what  is  already  done, 
and  will  make  war  immediately  if  the  treatment  of  the 
King  be  such  as  to  call  for  or  to  justify  measures  of  ex 
tremity." 

"  Some  English  are  brought  back  [August  2ist]  who 
were  on  their  way.  Visit  Lady  Sutherland  to  take  leave. 
They  can't  get  as  yet  their  passports.  The  Venetian  am 
bassador  has  been  brought  back  and  very  ignominiously 
treated  ;  even  his  papers  examined,  as  it  is  said  by  him. 
This  is  strong,  and  raises  in  my  mind  a  question  whether 
I  ought  not  to  show  resentment  by  leaving  the  country. 
I  have  company  at  dinner,  and  in  the  evening  I  go  to  sup 
with  Lady  Sutherland.  They  can't  get  passports.  He  is 
in  a  tearing  passion.  He  has  burned  his  papers,  which  I 
will  not  do.  They  give  me  broad  hints  that  honor  requires 
of  me  to  quit  this  country.  The  weather  is  pleasant  and  I 
am  very  gay,  which  he  can  hardly  bear." 

"  Visit  Lady  Sutherland  again  to-day  [August  22d]. 
They  have  received  a  polite  letter  from  M.  Lebrun,  and 
expect  to  get  their  passports  speedily.  He  is  so  cautious 
that  if  it  be  not  the  timidity  of  which  he  is  accused  it  is 
something  very  like  it." 

"The  different  ambassadors  are  all  taking  flight,  and  if 
I  stay  I  shall  be  alone,"  Morris  wrote  to  Mr.  Jefferson  on 
this  same  22d  of  August.  "  I  mean,  however,  to  stay,  un 
less  circumstances  should  summon  me  away ;  because, 
in  the  admitted  case  that  my  letters  of  credence  are  to 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  577 

the  monarchy,  and  not  to  the  Republic  of  France,  it  be 
comes  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  I  remain  in  this 
country  or  go  to  England  during  the  time  which  may  be 
needful  to  obtain  your  orders  or  to  produce  a  settlement 
of  affairs  here.  Going  hence,  however,  would  look  like 
taking  part  against  the  late  Revolution,  and  I  am  not  only 
unauthorized  in  this  respect,  but  I  am  bound  to  suppose 
that,  if  the  great  majority  of  the  nation  adhere  to  the  new 
form,  the  United  States  will  approve  thereof ;  because,  in 
the  first  place,  we  have  no  right  to  prescribe  to  this  coun 
try  the  government  they  shall  adopt,  and  next,  because 
the  basis  of  our  own  Constitution  is  the  indefeasible  right 
of  the  people  to  establish  it.  It  is  true  that  the  position 
is  not  without  danger,  but  I  presume  that  when  the  Presi 
dent  did  me  the  honor  of  naming  me  to  this  embassy  it 
was  not  for  my  personal  pleasure  or  safety,  but  to  pro 
mote  the  interests  of  my  country.  These,  therefore,  I 
shall  continue  to  pursue  to  the  best  of  my  judgment,  and 
as  to  consequences,  they  are  in  the  hand  of  God." 

"Mr.  Henchman,  of  Boston,  calls  on  me,"  says  the  diary 
for  August  23d.  "  He  says  the  accounts  transmitted  to  Eng 
land  of  what  is  doing  here  have  created  such  alarm  that  he 
did  not  dare  bring  me  the  despatches  with  which  Mr. 
Pinckney  wished  to  charge  him.  He  has  received,  how 
ever,  along  the  road  all  kind  of  civil  treatment.  He  says 
that  the  judgment  I  have  formed  as  to  the  conduct  which 
I  ought  to  pursue  is  just,  and  that  if  I  should  quit  France 
without  just  cause  it  would  excite  much  ill-will  in  America. 
I  dine  with  the  British  ambassador,  and  after  dinner  the 
Venetian  ambassador  comes  in  with  M.  Tronchin.  This 
last  says  the  Assembly  have  permitted  the  Corps  Diplo 
matique  to  depart,  but  not  other  strangers.  I  laugh  a  little 
too  much  at  the  distresses  of  the  Baron  Grandcour,  and 
Lord  Gower  gets  a  little  too  much  in  a  passion  with  Lord 
37 


578  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

Stair.  I  am  very  sorry  that  Lady  Sutherland  is  going,  and 
she  is  convinced  that  I  am.  I  have  a  large  company  at 
dinner.  Mr.  Richard  calls,  and  tells  me  that  M.  de  la 
Porte  is  on  his  way  to  the  place  of  execution." 

"Another  man  is  beheaded  this  evening  [August  25th] 
for  crime  de  lese-nation.  He  published  a  newspaper  against 
the  Jacobins.  This  is  severe,  at  least.  Call  on  Lady  Suth 
erland.  They  are  busy  packing  up.  Small  company  at 
dinner  ;  bid  them  adieu — a  long  adieu,  perhaps.  It  is  said 
here  that  the  former  Bishop  of  Chalons  has  received  a  let 
ter,  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  desiring  him  to 
mention  whether  he  wishes  the  episcopal  palace,  etc., 
to  be  respected.  They  expect  soon  to  be  there.  If  Ver 
dun  surrenders,  as  Longwy  has  done,  the  foreign  troops 
will  soon  be  here.  The  weather  is  warm,  with  small  rain. 
I  find  company  at  home,  which  stays  late.  One  of  them, 
St.  Croix,  comes  after  I  am  in  bed,  to  ask  an  asylum.  The 
municipality  are  in  pursuit  of  him." 

"Write.  Stay  at  home  all  day  [August  28th].  It  is 
said  that  Verdun  and  Metz  are  both  taken  ;  that  the  Prus 
sian  army  is  at  St.  Menchond,  and  that  the  couriers  are  all 
confined  which  bring  the  news.  I  think  there  can  be  little 
use  in  confining  them,  because  the  taking  of  towns  can't 
be  kept  secret.  We  shall  know  more  by  and  by." 

"Go  this  morning  [August  2pth]  to  M.  Lebrun's.  The 
Minister  of  Contributions,  M.  Claviere,  and  M.  Monge,  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  meet  me  here  at  the  Hotel  of  Foreign 
Affairs.  They  wish  me  to  enter  into  a  contract  to  furnish 
$400,000  in  America  for  the  use  of  Santo  Domingo.  I 
show  them  many  reasons  why  I  cannot,  and,  among  others, 
tell  them  that  I  am  not  authorized  to  treat  with  them  ; 
that  I  had  been  authorized  to  settle  with  the  late  govern 
ment,  and  that  if  I  should  enter  into  the  agreement  they 
wished  I  should  probably  be  blamed  for  exceeding  the 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  5/9 

line  prescribed  to  me  ;  that  there  remained,  moreover,  an 
other  point  worthy  of  their  attention,  which  was  that  my 
agreement  would  be  in  itself  void,  because  I  had  no  powers 
to  treat  with  the  present  government.  M.  Claviere  said 
the  United  States  would  certainly  act  in  a  different  man 
ner  towards  the  present  government  than  monarchs  of 
Europe  did,  and  demanded  peremptorily  whether  I  would, 
or  no,  sign  the  contract.  His  language  and  manner  were 
such  as  naturally  to  excite  some  little  indignation,  and 
although  I  would  pardon  much  to  a  man  whose  stock-job 
bing  life  had  not  much  qualified  him  for  a  station  in 
which  delicacy  of  manner  and  expression  are  almost  es 
sential,  yet  I  could  not  submit  to  an  indignity  in  my  per 
son  towards  the  country  I  represent.  I  told  him,  there 
fore,  that  I  did  not  understand  what  he  meant  to  say.  My 
countenance,  I  believe,  spoke  the  rest  of  my  sentiment, 
and  led  him  to  say,  in  explanation,  that  it  was  necessary 
for  them  to  have  some  positive  engagement,  because  oth 
erwise  they  must  make  provision  for  the  service  from  an 
other  source  ;  and  then  he  again  expressed  his  conviction 
that  the  United  States  would  recognize  them.  I  told  him 
it  was  not  proper  for  me  (a  servant)  to  pretend  to  decide 
on  what  would  be  the  opinion  of  my  masters  ;  that  I  should 
wait  their  orders,  and  obey  them  when  received;  that  the 
present  government  could  collect  my  sentiments  from  my 
conduct ;  that  I  could  not  possibly  take  on  me  to  judge 
questions  of  such  magnitude.  I  add  that  I  will  write  and 
recommend  the  matter  strongly  to  the  Ministers  of  the 
United  States.  But  that  is  not  what  they  want.  Claviere 
is  much  vexed.  I  have  company  to  dinner  ;  the  Dutch 
ambassador  tells  me  he  has  received  his  orders,  and  shall 
ask  for  his  passports  to-morrow.  In  the  evening  a  num 
ber  of  persons  enter,  upon  an  order  to  examine  my  house 
for  arms  said  to  be  hidden  in  it.  I  tell  them  they  shall  not 


580  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

examine,  that  there  are  no  arms,  and  that  if  there  were 
they  should  not  touch  them.  I  insist  that  they  must 
seize  the  informer,  that  I  may  bring  him  to  punishment. 
I  am  obliged  to  be  very  peremptory,  and  at  length  get  rid 
of  them.  The  scene  finished  by  apologies  on  their  part. 
Just  after  they  are  gone  M.  de  St.  Croix  comes  in.  He  is 
a  lucky  man.  He  was  hidden,  but  the  order  to  search  all 
houses  brings  him  hither.  We  are,  it  seems,  to  have  an 
other  visit  this  night." 

"The  news  [August  3oth]  of  the  aristocrats  is  that  the 
troops  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  make  excursions  as  far 
as  Chalons  ;  that  Luckner's  army  is  surrounded — Verdun 
taken.  St.  Foi,  who  comes  in  the  evening,  tells  me  that 
the  bombardment  of  Verdun  has  been  heard  in  the  neigh 
borhood.  St.  Pardou  says  that  six  thousand  men  are 
ordered  for  a  secret  expedition  as  on  Saturday  next,  and 
he  fears  that  it  is  to  carry  off  the  royal  family.  The  Com- 
missaire  de  Section  called  on  me  this  morning,  and  behaved 
very  well.  The  weather  is  pleasant.  I  learn  that  many 
people  have  been  taken  up  last  night.  There  was  a  gen 
eral  search  throughout  the  town  for  arms,  and  I  presume 
for  people  also.  It  still  continues.  The  Commissary 
who  called  upon  me  to-day,  made  many  apologies  and 
took  a  note  of  my  reply,  so  that  we  parted  good  friends." 

"  I  have  sufficient  cause  to  take  offence,"  Morris  never 
theless  wrote  to  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  30th,  "and  depart, 
if  I  were  so  inclined ;  but  I  will  stay,  if  possible,  so  as  to 
preserve  to  you  the  most  perfect  liberty  of  action.  I  do 
not,  indeed,  feel  offended  at  what  is  done  by  the  people, 
because  they  cannot  be  supposed  to  understand  the  law  of 
nations,  and  because  they  are  in  a  state  of  fury  which  is 
inconceivable,  and  which  leaves  them  liable  to  all  impres 
sions  and  renders  them  capable  of  all  excesses.  I  shall 
endeavor,  nevertheless,  to  preserve  the  proper  firmness, 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  581 

and,  let  what  will  happen,  I  hope  that  though  my  friends 
should  have  occasion  to  lament  my  fate,  they  will  never  be 
obliged  to  blush  for  my  conduct." 

"Just  before  dinner  [August  3ist]  I  receive  an  insult 
ing  letter  from  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  In  the 
evening  the  Bishop  d'Autun  tells  me  it  is  written  by  Bris- 
sot,  and  that  their  intention  is  to  force  me  to  recognize 
the  present  government.  He  urges  me  to  go  away,  be 
cause  all  others  of  the  Corps  Diplomatique  go,  and  because 
I  shall  in  staying  be  exposed  to  all  the  insidious  malevo 
lence  of  bad  men.  He  relates  a  scene  which  passed  in  his 
presence,  and  which  is  alike  shocking  and  ridiculous.  He 
tells  me  that  there  is  a  division  already  among  the  rulers 
here.  He  communicates  the  views  of  those  who,  in  the 
natural  course  of  things,  must  become  strongest.  I  give 
him  my  reasons  for  thinking  that  they  pursue  an  imprac 
ticable  object." 

"  I  employ  the  greater  part  of  this  morning  [September 
ist]  in  making  a  reply  to  the  letter  of  M.  Lebrun,  and 
copying  it.  In  the  evening  I  read  both,  or  rather  show 
them,  to  the  Bishop  d'Autun,  who  approves  much  of  my 
answer,  and  observes  that  the  letter  is  both  absurd  and 
impertinent.  I  had  sent  for  Swan  and  told  him  that  his 
friend  Brissot,  instead  of  promoting  had  spoilt  his  busi 
ness,  and  would  drive  me  out  of  the  country.  He  says  he 
laments  this  last  point  much,  as  a  few  days  must  overset 
the  present  establishment.  I  rather  think  he  is  mistaken 
as  to  the  time,  at  least,  and  there  may  be  many  overturns 
before  there  is  a  settled  government." 

"This  morning  [September  2d]  I  go  out  on  business. 
Madame  de  Flahaut  takes  the  same  opportunity  to  visit 
her  friends.  On  our  return  we  hear  or,  rather,  see  a 
proclamation.  She  inquires  into  it,  and  learns  that  the 
enemy  are  at  the  gates  of  Paris,  which  cannot  be  true. 


582  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

She  is  taken  ill,  being  affected  by  the  fate  of  her  friends. 
I  observe  that  this  proclamation  produces  terror  and  de 
spair  among  the  people.  This  afternoon  they  announce 
the  murder  of  priests  who  had  been  shut  up  in  the  Carmes. 
They  then  go  to  the  Abbaye,  and  murder  the  prisoners 
there.  This  is  horrible." 

"The  murdering  continues  all  day  [September  3d].  I 
am  told  that  there  are  about  eight  hundred  men  concerned 
in  it.  The  Minister  of  Parma  and  Ambassadress  of  Swe 
den  have  been  stopped  as  they  were  going  away." 

"  And  still  [September  4th]  the  murders  continue.  The 
prisoners  in  the  Bicetre  defend  themselves,  and  the  assail 
ants  try  to  stifle  and  drown  them.  A  certain  M.  Ber- 
trand,  of  the  cavalry,  comes  to  my  house.  Madame  had 
sent  for  him  to  give  him  a  compensation  for  his  kind 
ness  in  saving  her  husband.  I  collect  from  him  that 
Paris  waits  but  the  moment  to  surrender.  He  does  not 
say  so,  but,  if  I  may  judge  from  strong  indications,  the 
cavalry  mean  to  join  the  invaders.  Several  strangers  who 
call  on  me  complain  that  they  cannot  get  passports.  It  is 
said  that  as  soon  as  the  prisoners  are  demolished,  the 
party  now  employed  in  executing  them  mean  to  attack 
the  shopkeepers.  The  Assembly  have  official  accounts 
that  Verdun  is  taken,  and,  it  is  said,  Stenay  also.  The 
weather  is  grown  very  cool,  and  this  afternoon  and  even 
ing  it  rains  hard." 

"Mr.  P tells  me  [September  5th]  that  the  ministry 

and  secret  committees  are  in  amaze.  Verdun,  Stenay,  and 
Clermont  are  taken.  The  country  submits  and  joins  the 
enemy.  The  party  of  Robespierre  has  vowed  the  destruc 
tion  of  Brissot.  The  Bishop  d'Autun  tells  me  that  he  has 
seen  one  of  the  Commission  extraordinaire,  i.e.,  secret  com 
mittee,  who  tells  him  that  there  is  the  most  imminent 
danger.  I  was  told  that  one  of  the  principal  Jacobins 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  583 

had  expressed  his  fears,  or  rather  despair,  not  so  much 
on  account  of  the  enemy's  force  as  of  their  internal  divi 
sions." 

"There  is  nothing  new  this  day  [September  6th].     The    , 
murders  continue,  and  the  magistrates  swear  to  protect 
persons  and  property.     The  weather  is  pleasant." 

"The  news  from  the  armies  [September  ;th]  are  rather 
encouraging  to  the  new  government.  The  Bishop  d'Au- 
tun  tells  me  that  he  hopes  to  get  his  passport,  and  urges 
me  to  procure  one  for  myself  and  quit  Paris.  He  says  he 
is  persuaded  that  those  who  rule  now  mean  to  quit  Paris 
and  take  off  the  King ;  that  their  intention  is  to  destroy 
the  city  before  they  leave  it.  I  learn  that  the  Commune 
have  shut  the  barriers,  because  they  suspect  the  Assembly 
of  an  intention  to  retreat.  The  weather  is  very  pleasant. 
The  Bishop  d'Autun  has  got  his  passport.  He  tells  me 
that  he  does  not  think  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  will  be 
able  to  reach  Paris,  and  he  urges  me  strongly  to  leave  it. 
I  have,  however,  received  from  the  minister  an  indirect 
apology  for  his  impertinent  letter,  and  therefore  I  shall 
stay.  The  weather  is  very  pleasant.  M.  Constable  has  got 
his  passport,  but  tells  me  that  Mr.  Phyn  finds  great  diffi 
culty.  Lord  Wycombe  calls  on  me  this  morning,  and 
Chaumont  comes  in  the  afternoon  to  take  leave." 

"The  prisoners  were  killed  yesterday  [September  roth] 
at  Versailles.  The  number  of  troops  to  be  opposed  to  the 
combined  armies  seems  now  to  be  as  inferior  as  the  disci 
pline  and  appointments.  Lord  Wycombe  dines  with  me  ; 
he  says  that  he  hopes  the  end  of  the  French  affairs  will 
cure  other  nations  of  the  rage  for  revolutions." 

In  his  history  of  the  daily  events  sent  to  Mr.  Jefferson, 
Morris  says,  at  the  end  of  this  "  eventful  week,"  under  date 
of  September  loth  :  "We  have  had  one  week  of  unchecked 
murders,  in  which  some  thousands  have  perished  in  this 


584  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXV. 

city.  It  began  with  between  two  and  three  hundred  of 
the  clergy,  who  would  not  take  the  oath  prescribed  by 
law.  Thence  these  executors  of  speedy  justice  went  to  the 
Abbaye,  where  the  prisoners  were  confined  who  were  at 
Court  on  the  loth.  Madame  de  Lamballe  was,  I  believe, 
the  only  woman  killed,  and  she  was  beheaded  and  disem 
bowelled  ;  the  head  and  entrails  paraded  on  pikes  through 
the  street,  and  the  body  dragged  after  them.  They  con 
tinued,  I  am  told,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Temple 
until  the  Queen  looked  out  at  this  horrid  spectacle.  Yes 
terday  the  prisoners  from  Orleans  were  put  to  death  at 
Versailles.  The  destruction  began  here  about  five  in 
the  afternoon  on  Sunday,  the  2d  instant.  A  guard  had 
been  sent  a  few  days  since  to  make  the  Due  de  la  Roche- 
foucault  prisoner.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Paris  under 
their  escort,  with  his  wife  and  mother,  when  he  was  taken 
out  of  his  carriage  and  killed.  The  ladies  were  taken 
back  to  La  Roche-Guyon,  where  they  are  now  in  a  state 
of  arrestation.  M.  de  Montmorin  was  among  those  slain 
at  the  Abbaye.  You  will  recollect  that  a  petition  was 
signed  by  many  thousands  to  displace  the  mayor  on  ac 
count  of  his  conduct  on  the  2oth  of  June.  The  signing 
of  this  petition  is  considered  as  a  sufficient  proof  of  the 
crime  of  Feuillantism,  and  it  was  in  contemplation  with 
some  to  put  all  those  who  were  guilty  of  signing  that 
petition  to  death.  This  measure  seems,  however,  to  be 
suspended  (for  the  present,  at  least)  ;  but,  as  there  is  no 
real  executive  authority,  the  plan  may  be  easily  resumed 
should  it  suit  the  views  of  those  who  enjoy  the  confidence 
of  that  part  of  the  people  who  are  now  active." 

"There  is  nothing  new  this  day,"  says  the  diary  for 
September  nth,  "except  that  the  Camp  of  Maulde  is 
raised  after  sending  a  detachment  to  Dumouriez.  The 
troops  are  retired  to  Valenciennes.  This  opens  the 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  585 

northern  frontier.  Thionville  is  besieged,  and  so, perhaps, 
is  Metz.  The  non-juring  priests  are  murdered  at  Rheims. 
The  weather  is  grown  cool.  The  Duke  of  Brunswick 
seems  to  be  waiting  awhile  for  the  operations  of  others. 
It  is  said  that  Champagne  in  general  waits  the  oppor 
tunity  of  joining  the  enemy,  and  it  is  said  also  that  every 
man  is  turning  out  against  them.  In  this,  as  in  other 
cases,  in  media  tutissimus  ibis.  A  battle  is  said  to  be  in  agi 
tation  between  Dumouriez  and  the  Duke  of  Brunswick. 
We  shall  know  more  of  this  hereafter.  The  inactivity  of 
the  enemy  is  so  extraordinary  that  it  must  have  an  un 
known  cause.  Confessedly  the  forces  opposed  were  infe 
rior,  and  it  would  be  extraordinary  that  great  manoeuvre 
should,  under  such  circumstances,  be  needful." 


586  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXVI. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

Lafayette  refuses  to  obey  the  Assembly.  Leaves  France  and  is  captured. 
King  and  queen  are  imprisoned  in  the  Temple.  Disorder  reigns  in 
Paris.  Murders  continue.  Morris  hears  that  the  Brissotine  faction 
desire  to  do  him  mischief.  Letter  to  Washington.  The  dangers  of 
.  living  in  Paris.  Trials  of  Morris's  position.  Retreat  of  the  Prus 
sians.  Apprehension  of  a  famine.  Taking  of  Nice.  Anxious'  un 
certainty  of  Morris's  life.  Letter  to  Jefferson  on  the  state  of  affairs. 
Letters  to  friends  assuring  them  of  his  well-being.  Difficulty  of  send 
ing  letters  safely.  Letter  to  Alexander  Hamilton.  Morris  becomes 
aware  that  the  French  Government  desire  his  recall. 

TO  secure  the  allegiance  of  the  army  was  the  first 
point  to  which  the  Legislative  Assembly  turned 
their  attention  after  the  overthrow  of  the  throne ;  and 
accordingly  three  commissioners,  armed  with  the  new  de 
crees,  were  sent  to  Lafayette  at  Sedan.  Lafayette  refused 
to  obey  the  Assembly,  and,  after  a  vain  effort  to  influence 
his  troops,  threw  up  his  command  and  fled  across  the  fron 
tier,  taking  the  road  to  the  Netherlands.  On  reaching 
the  Austrian  advance  posts,  he  was  arrested  and  treated 
as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

Commenting  (September  i2th)  on  the  fate  of  Lafayette 
to  Mr.  Short,  Minister  at  the  Hague,  Morris  wrote  :  "  Truly 
his  circle  is  complete.  He  has  spent  all  his  fortune  on  a 
revolution,  and  is  now  crushed  by  the  wheel  which  he  had 
put  in  motion.  He  lasted  longer  than  I  expected.  I  have 
long  lamented  his  situation,  and  feel  more  than  ever  a  de 
sire  to  alleviate  his  distress.  His  imprisonment  was  among 
the  events  which  appeared  to  me  not  improbable.  The 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  587 

reasons  you  urge  for  his  liberation  are  cogent,  and  I 
hope  they  may  be  attended  to.  But  supposing  that  M. 
de  Lafayette  were  a  natural  born  subject  of  America, 
and  taken  under  the  circumstances  in  which  he  was 
placed,  I  do  not  exactly  see  how  the  United  States  could 
claim  him.  If  claimed  and  delivered  up,  would  they  not 
be  bound  to  put  him  to  death  for  having  attacked  a  neu 
tral  power ;  or  else,  by  the  very  act  of  acquitting  him,  de 
clare  war  against  those  who  had  taken  him  ?  But  M.  de 
Lafayette  is  a  Frenchman,  and  it  is  as  a  Frenchman  that 
he  is  taken  and  is  to  be  treated.  I  do  not  feel  myself 
competent  to  decide  on  such  a  question  in  behalf  of  my 
country,  and  therefore,  if  I  were  minister  to  His  Imperial 
Majesty,  I  should  (I  think)  confine  myself  to  prayer  and 
solicitation  until  I  received  express  orders  from  the  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States.  But  as  I  am  not  minister  to 
the  Emperor,  I  rather  think  that  my  interference  would 
prove  offensive  and  do  more  harm  than  good  to  M.  de 
Lafayette,  and  the  government  of  this  country  might  feel 
itself  offended.  My  opinion  is,  that  the  less  we  meddle 
in  the  great  quarrel  which  agitates  Europe  the  better 
will  it  be  for  us,  and  although  the  private  feelings  of 
friendship  or  humanity  might  properly  sway  us  as  private 
men,  we  have  in  our  public  character  higher  duties  to 
fulfil  than  those  which  may  be  dictated  by  sentiments  of 
affection  towards  an  individual." 

Sudden  disappearances  and  rapid  changes  were  the  order 
of  the  day  in  Paris  now.  People  lost  their  heads  ;  streets 
and  places  lost  their  names  in  the  great  whirl  of  excitement 
and  emotion  and  the  overwhelming  desire  for  change. 
After  the  loth  of  August  the  word  royal  was  effaced  ;  citi 
zens  named  Leroi  were  requested  to  take  some  other  that 
could  not  suggest  hateful  royalty  to  the  world.  Soon 
there  was  to  be  a  protest  against  the  ecclesiastical  calen- 


588  DIARY   AND    LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXVI. 

dar.  The  names  of  the  months  were  to  suggest  the  sea 
son  they  occurred  in,  so  that  the  Republican  years  should 
differ  from  all  other  years.  Meantime,  languishing  in  the 
Temple,  uncomplainingly  enduring  the  change  that  had 
come  to  them,  were  the  royal  family,  helplessly  submit 
ting  to  every  variety  of  contumely  at  the  hands  of  those 
who  had  so  lately  called  the  King  the  Defender  of  his 
people.  Disorder  reigned.  "The  factions  seem  to  be 
daily  more  embittered  against  each  other,"  Morris  wrote, 
September  i4th,  "and,  notwithstanding  the  common  dan 
ger,  they  are  far  from  a  disposition  to  unite.  It  seems 
probable  that  those  who  possess  Paris  will  dictate  to  the 
others.  I  take  an  airing  in  the  boulevards  to-day." 

"  I  will  not  pretend  to  relate,  much  less  to  describe, 
what  has  lately  passed  here,"  Morris  wrote  to  a  friend 
in  America  during  September.  "It  is  too  shocking,  and 
among  the  victims  are  some  whose  fate  will  much  affect 
you.  I  must  not  conceal  from  you  that  (as  I  am  told)  the 
venerable  Madame  d'Amville  and  M.  de  la  Rochefoucault 
are  on  their  way  to  this  city  under  guard  ;  the  Duchesse 
de  la  Rochefoucault  remains,  I  am  told,  at  Roche-Guyon. 
Poor  Charles  Chabot  is  no  more."  And  a  few  days  later 
he  wrote  to  Mr.  Short :  "Among  the  many  scenes  of  blood 
shed  which  have  of  late  been  exhibited,  you  will  lament 
the  fate  of  the  Due  de  la  Rochefoucault,  killed  in  the 
presence  of  his  aged  mother.  You  seem  to  shudder  at 
the  excesses  you  had  heard  of  in  the  beginning  of  the 
war.  What  will  be  your  feelings  at  the  scenes  which  have 
lately  passed  ?  I  will  not  pretend  to  describe  what  I  wish 
to  forget,  and  I  fear,  also,  that  a  just  picture  would  be 
attributed  rather  to  the  glow  of  imagination  than  to  the 
coloring  of  nature." 

"To-day,"  says  the  diary  for  September  i4th,  "there  is 
nothing  from  the  armies  except  a  confirmation  of  the  rais- 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  589 

ing  of  the  Camp  de  Maulde,  with  some  circumstances  to 
show  that  the  French  have  been  roughly  handled  in  that 
quarter.  Some  people  have  amused  themselves  this  day 
in  tearing  the  ear-rings  out  of  people's  ears  and  taking 
their  watches.  It  is  said  that  some  of  the  violators  have 
been  put  to  death." 

"This  day  [September  iyth]  accounts  arrived  from  the 
army  to  show  that  Dumouriez  has  been  defeated,  or  some 
thing  very  like  it." 

"By  the  official  reports  [September  i8th]  Paris  is  in  a 
state  of  imminent  danger  from  the  internal  movement. 
The  factions  grow  more  inveterate.  Everything  still  wears 
an  appearance  of  confusion  ;  no  authority  anywhere.  I 
find,  from  various  channels,  that  the  Brissotine  faction  are 
desirous  of  doing  me  mischief,  if  they  can. 

"Nothing  new  this  day  [September  2ist],  except  that 
the  Convention  has  met  and  declared  they  will  have  no 
King  in  France.  News  are  received  of  the  march  of  the 
Prussian  army  towards  Rheims,  after  a  long  action  with 
the  advance  of  Dtimouriez's  army,  under  Kellermann, 
which  was,  I  presume,  to  amuse  him." 

In  a  letter  to  Washington,  dated  September  22d,  Morris 
mentioned  that  he  had  hinted  at  the  "  dangers  attending 
a  residence  in  this  city,"  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Jefferson. 
"Some  of  the  sanguinary  events,"  he  goes  on  to  say, 
"which  have  taken  place  and  which  were  partial  execu- 
,  tions  of  great  plans,  will  point  to  a  natural  interpretation 
thereof  ;  but  these  were  not  what  I  contemplated.  Should 
we  ever  meet,  I  will  entertain  you  with  the  recital  of  many 
things  which  it  would  be  improper  to  commit  to  paper,  at 
least  for  the  present.  You  will  have  seen  that  the  King 
is  accused  of  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  but  I  verily 
believe  that  he  wished  sincerely  for  this  nation  the  enjoy 
ment  of  the  utmost  degree  of  liberty  which  the  situation 


590  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXVI. 

of  circumstances  will  permit.  What  may  be  his  fate  God 
only  knows,  but  history  informs  us  that  the  passage  of 
dethroned  monarchs  is  short  from  the  prison  to  the  grave. 
I  discover  three  capital  errors  in  the  conduct  of  the  Duke 
of  Brunswick.  First,  his  proclamation  arrogated  rights 
which  in  no  construction  could  belong  to  him  or  his  em 
ployers,  and  contained  threats  which  no  circumstances 
could  warrant,  and  which  in  no  supposable  success  could 
be  executed.  They  tended,  however,  to  unite  the  nation 
in  opposing  him,  seeing  that  no  hope  remained  for  those 
who  had  taken  any  part  in  the  Revolution  ;  and  the  con 
duct  observed  towards  M.  de  Lafayette  and  his  compan 
ions  was  a  severe  comment  on  the  cruelty  of  the  text. 
Thus  in  the  same  moment  he  wounded  the  pride,  insulted 
the  feelings,  and  alarmed  the  fears  of  all  France  ;  and  by 
his  thundering  menaces  to  protect  the  royal  family  he 
plunged  them  into  the  situation  from  which  he  meant  to 
extricate  them.  The  second  error  was  not  to  dash  at  Paris 
the  instant  he  received  the  news  of  the  affair  of  the  loth. 
He  should  then  have  advanced  at  all  hazards,  and  if  in  so 
doing  he  had  declared  to  the  several  generals  and  armies 
that  he  expected  their  assistance  to  restore  their  dethroned 
prince  and  violated  constitution,  I  am  persuaded  that  he 
would  have  met  with  as  much  support  as  opposition.  I 
learn  within  these  two  days  that  the  delegates  of  Lorraine 
and  Alsace  had  so  little  hope  or,  rather,  were  so  thoroughly 
persuaded  that  those  provinces  would  join  the  enemy,  that 
they  made  unusual  haste  to  come  forward  lest  they  should 
be  apprehended.  Great  activity  in  that  moment  would 
have  done  wonders  ;  but  then  he  was  not  ready.  The  third 
great  error  was  that,  after  waiting  so  long,  he  came  forward 
at  all  this  season.  By  menacing  the  frontiers  with  great 
and  increasing  force  vast  numbers  of  the  militia  would 
have  been  drawn  to  the  utmost  verge  of  the  French  terri- 


I792.J  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  5QI 

tory.  The  difficulty  of  subsisting  them  there  would  have 
been  extreme.  By  taking  strong  and  good  positions  his 
troops  would  have  been  preserved  in  full  vigor,  and  the 
French,  wasted  by  disease,  tired  of  inaction,  and  stimu 
lated  by  their  natural  impatience  and  impetuosity  of  tem 
per,  would  have  forced  their  generals  to  attack,  even  if 
they  had  the  prudence  to  be  quiet.  The  consequence  of 
such  attack,  excepting  always  the  will  of  God,  must  have 
been  a  complete  victory  on  his  part,  and  then  it  would 
have  been  next  to  impossible  for  them  to  escape.  Then 
the  towns  would  have  surrendered,  believing  the  business 
to  be  over,  and  he  might  have  come  as  far  forward  this 
autumn  as  the  needful  transportation  of  stores  would  per 
mit.  Next  spring  France  would  have  found  it  almost  im 
possible  to  subsist  the  armies  needful  for  her  defence  in 
that  part  of  the  country  which  is  most  defensible,  and  of 
consequence  her  enemy  would  have  reached  the  point 
from  which  he  lately  retreated  without  the  smallest  diffi 
culty.  France  has  a  strong  ally  in  the  feelings  of  those 
nations  who  are  subject  to  despotism,  but  for  that  very 
reason  she  has  a  mortal  enemy  in  every  prince.  If  (as  is 
very  possible)  the  league  should  hold  firm  till  next  spring 
it  will  then  have  gained  considerable  auxiliaries,  and  I 
am  very  much  mistaken  if  this  nation  will  make  as  great 
efforts  as  those  she  is  now  making.  The  character  of  na 
tions  must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  all  political 
questions,  and  that  of  France  has  ever  been  an  enthusias 
tic  inconstancy.  They  soon  get  tired  of  a  thing.  They 
adopt  without  examination  and  reject  without  sufficient 
cause.  They  are  now  agog  of  their  Republic,  and  may 
perhaps  adopt  some  form  of  government  with  a  huzza, 
but  that  they  will  adopt  a  good  form,  or,  having  adopted, 
adhere  to  it,  that  is  what  I  do  not  believe.  The  future 
prospect,  therefore,  is  involved  in  mist  and  darkness. 


592  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXVI. 

There  is  but  one  sovereign  in  Europe — the  Empress  of 
Russia — who  is  not  in  the  scale  of  talents  considerably  un 
der  par. 

"  I  need  not  tell  you,  sir,  how  agreeable  it  would  be  to 
me,  and  what  a  load  it  would  take  from  u\y  mind  to  have 
positive  instructions  and  orders  from  my  government.  At 
the  same  time,  I  am  fully  sensible  that  it  may  be  incon 
venient  to  give  me  such  orders.  The  United  States  may 
wish  to  temporize  and  see  how  things  are  like  to  end,  and 
in  such  case,  leaving  me  at  large,  the  right  reserved  to 
avow  or  disavow  me,  according  to  circumstances  and 
events,  is  for  the  government  an  eligible  position.  My 
part  in  the  play  is  not  quite  so  eligible,  but  although  I 
wish  the  Senate  to  be  sensible  of  this,  I  am  far  from  wish 
ing  that  any  precipitate  step  be  taken  to  relieve  me  from 
it,  for  I  know  how  contemptible  is  any  private  considera 
tion  when  compared  with  the  public  interests.  One  step, 
however,  seems  natural,  viz.,  to  say  that  before  any  new 
letters  of  credence  are  given  it  will  be  proper  to  know  to 
whom  they  are  to  be  directed,  because  the  Convention,  a 
mere  temporary  body,  is  to  be  succeeded  by  some  fixed 
form,  and  it  may  be  a  long  time  before  any  such  form  is 
adopted. 

"Your  letter  for  Lafayette  must  remain  with  me  yet 
some  time.  His  enemies  here  are  as  virulent  as  ever,  and 
I  can  give  you  no  better  proof  than  this.  Among  the 
King's  papers  was  found  nothing  of  what  his  enemies 
wished  and  expected,  except  his  correspondence  with  M. 
de  Lafayette,  which  breathes  from  beginning  to  end  the 
purest  sentiments  of  freedom.  It  is,  therefore,  kept  se 
cret,  while  he  stands  accused  of  designs  in  conjunction 
with  the  dethroned  monarch  to  enslave  his  country. 
The  fact  respecting  this  correspondence  is  communicated 
to  me  by  a  person  to  whom  it  was  related  confidentially 


1792.  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  593 

by  one  of  the  parties  who  examined  it.  You  will  have 
seen  in  my  letter  to  Jefferson  a  proposition  made  by  Mr. 
Short  respecting  M.  de  Lafayette,  with  my  reply.  I  had 
very  good  reason  to  apprehend  that  our  interference  at 
that  time  would  have  been  injurious  to  him,  but  I  hope 
that  a  moment  will  soon  offer  in  which  something  may  be 
done  for  his  relief.  In  reading  my  correspondence  with 
Mr.  Short  you  must  consider  that  I  wrote  to  the  French 
and  Austrian  governments,  as  each  would  take  the  liberty 
to  read  my  letters." 

"  I  am  told  [September  26th]  that  the  King  of  Prussia 
has  made  overtures  for  accommodation  with  the  Assem 
bly.  This  is,  I  presume,  a  military  trick.  News  have 
arrived  that  Montesquiou  *  has  broken  into  Savoy,  and  is 
carrying  all  before  him." 

Events  since  the  2pth  of  August,  when  he  met  M.  Le- 
brun  and  M.  Claviere  at  the  Hotel  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
had  convinced  Morris  that  his  suspicions  concerning  the 
ministers  were  correct.  "  A  private  speculation  was  at 
the  bottom  of  the  proposal  made  to  me,"  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Jefferson,  "  and  this  accounts  for  the  wrath  I  excited  by 
the  unwillingness  on  my  part  to  jump  over  all  bounds  of 
my  powers  and  instructions." 

"  There  is  nothing  extraordinary  this  day  [September 
3oth],  except  a  confirmation  of  the  account  that  the  King 
of  Prussia  wishes  to  treat,  and  which  account  I  cannot  be 
lieve." 

*  Anne  Pierre,  Marquis  de  Montesquiou-Ferzensac  was  brought  to  the 
special  notice  of  Monsieur  (Louis  XVIII.)  by  his  taste  for  letters.  Appointed 
in  1771  premier  ecuyer,  he  became  a  marechal  de  camp  in  1780.  In  the 
American  Revolution  he  served  with  distinction.  A  deputy  to  the  States 
General  from  the  Nobles  in  1789,  he,  after  the  king's  arrest  at  Varennes,  was 
called  to  command  the  Army  of  the  South.  After  achieving  the  conquest  of 
Savoy,  in  1792,  without  bloodshed,  he  was  accused  of  compromising  the 
dignity  of  the  nation,  and  retired  to  Switzerland.  Born  in  1741,  he  died  in 
1798. 

3* 


594  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXVI. 

"  We  learn  to-day  [October  2d]  that  the  Prussian  army 
is  retreating.  This  appears  very  extraordinary.  They 
are  said  to  be  sickly." 

"This  morning  [October  3d]  I  have  details  respecting 
the  retreat  of  the  Prussians.  Great  sickness  and  the 
crafty  policy  of  Austria  account  for  it.  This  retreat  gives 
room  for  a  long  war,  should  the  Allies  persist,  unless  the 
natural  levity  of  the  French  should  induce  them  to  aban 
don  their  young  republic  in  the  cradle.  There  is  every 
reason  to  apprehend  a  famine.  Accounts  arrive  of  the 
taking  of  Spires  by  General  Custine  and  three  thousand 
prisoners  of  war.  Dumouriez  seems  extravagantly  rejoiced 
at  the  retreat  of  the  Prussian  army.  Re-enforcements  are 
thrown  into  Lille,  so  that  in  all  probability  that  place  is 
saved.  The  rainy  weather  is  very  unfavorable  to  the 
sickly  troops  under  the  Duke  of  Brunswick.  Everything 
looks  favorably  to  the  cause  of  the  new  republic.  The 
weather  is  mild  and  pleasant." 

"Confirmations  arrive  [October  8th]  of  the  taking  of 
Nice,  and  from  every  quarter  success  pours  in.  '  Oh  mor 
tal,  impotent  and  blind  to  fate,  too  soon  defeated  and  too 
soon  elate.'  The  weather  is  very  foul.  Dumouriez  is 
seriously  occupied  by  the  plan  of  marching  into  Flanders. 
He  says  he  will  take  up  his  winter-quarters  at  Brussels. 
I  hear  that  Worms  is  taken,  in  which,  by  the  by,  there 
was  no  garrison." 

"Some  despatches  [October  22d],  taken  by  the  careless 
ness  of  Monsieur,  the  King's  brother,  open  up  scenes  of 
French  good  faith,  or  rather  aristocratic  folly." 

Of  the  wearisome  uncertainty  of  his  position  Morris 
speaks  to  Jefferson  in  a  letter  of  October  23d.  He  says  : 

"The  unexpected  events  which  have  taken  place  in 
this  country  since  your  letter  was  written,  and  of  which 
you  will  have  been  informed  before  this  reaches  you,  will 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  595 

show  you  that  I  cannot,  until  I  receive  the  President's 
further  orders,  take  up  any  of  the  objects  to  which  it 
alludes,  not  having,  indeed,  the  proper  powers.  I  appre 
hend,  also,  the  United  States  will  wish  to  see  a  little 
into  the  establishment  of  the  new  republic  before  they  take 
any  decided  steps  in  relation  thereto.  In  this  case  I  may 
be  yet  a  long  time  without  such  orders,  which  is  to  me 
a  distressing  circumstance,  because  it  involves  a  degree  of 
responsibility  for  events  which  no  human  being  can  fore 
see.  It  may,  indeed,  be  replied  that  in  a  position  like 
mine  the  proper  conduct  is  to  preserve  a  strict  neu 
trality,  and,  of  course,  to  do  nothing  ;  but  cases  often  arise 
in  which  to  do  nothing  is  taking  a  part.  I  had  it  in  con 
templation  to  leave  Paris  and  visit  Bordeaux  and  Mar 
seilles,  but  I  found  it  necessary  to  continue  here  for  the 
sake  of  such  of  my  countrymen  as  were  in  this  city,  and 
who  might,  in  the  madness  of  the  moment,  have  been 
exposed  to  danger,  but  certainly  to  inconvenience  ;  a 
proof  of  which  is,  that  the  English  who  remained  after 
Lord  Gower  went  away  found  it  so  difficult  to  obtain 
passports,  though  possessed  of  those  he  had  given,  that 
many,  after  waiting  for  weeks  in  fruitless  attendance,  went 
off  at  all  hazards  without  them. 

"  As  to  the  domestic  affairs  here,  they  are  by  no  means 
quiet.  The  great  majority  of  the  Convention  is  united  in 
opposition  to  a  few  members  who  are  joined  to  some 
chiefs  in  this  city  and  meditate  further  revolutions.  They 
aver  that  those  whom  they  call  the  Brissotines  had  no  wish 
to  overturn  the  monarchy,  but  only  to  get  the  loaves  and 
fishes  for  themselves  and  their  friends  ;  that  the  affair  of 
the  loth  of  August  happened  not  only  without  their  aid, 
but  contrary  to  their  wish  ;  that,  having  happened,  they 
did  indeed  take  advantage  of  it  to  obtain  the  executive 
power  for  their  particular  friends,  but  that  even  then  they 


596  DIARY   AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXVI. 

would  not  consolidate  the  Revolution  by  destroying  its 
enemies — a  business,  say  they,  which  was  effected  on  the 
2d  of  September  and  the  following  days,  and  which 
those  who  now  safely  enjoy  the  fruits  of  it  pretend  to 
blame.  The  Brissotines,  on  the  other  hand,  contend  that 
they  alone  are  the  true  friends  of  republican  government, 
for  which  they  have  incessantly  labored  ever  since  the 
second  Assembly  met ;  that  the  attachment  they  professed 
to  the  late  Constitution  was  only  simulated,  and  was 
necessary  to  cover  their  attack  upon  it ;  that,  in  their  vari 
ous  decrees,  they  constantly  kept  in  view  the  advantage 
to  be  gained  by  obliging  the  King  either  to  sanction  what 
(though  agreeable  to  the  popular  wish)  was  contrary  to 
the  Constitution — in  which  case  the  Constitution  would 
have  become  a  dead  letter  and  have  left  the  field  of  con 
test  open  between  the  King  and  the  legislature — or  else,  if 
the  King  withheld  his  sanction,  it  turned  the  voice  of  the 
people  against  him,  and  left  him  in  consequence  exposed 
to  successful  attack  whenever  the  favorable  moment 
should  present  itself ;  that  it  was  they,  in  short,  who 
brought  forward  the  plan  of  an  army  of  twenty  thousand 
republicans  under  the  walls  of  Paris,  and  who  took  private 
and  effectual  measures  to  bring  that  army  into  the  field  if 
(as  was  apprehended)  the  King  should  put  a  veto  on  the 
decree  ;  that  it  was  owing  to  these  measures  that  the  Bre 
tons  and  Marseillais  and  other  Federes  were  on  the  spot 
to  execute  the  plans  of  the  loth  of  August.  These  are 
the  outlines  of  the  arguments  made  use  of  on  either  side 
to  convince  the  public  that  each  is  exclusively  the  au 
thor  of  a  republic  which  the  people  find  themselves  pos 
sessed  of  by  a  kind  of  magic,  or,  at  least,  a  sleight  of 
hand,  and  which,  nevertheless,  they  are  as  fond  of  as  if  it 
were  their  own  offspring.  To  these  main  arguments  are 
added  a  number  of  subordinate  ones,  with  all  the  little  ac- 


1792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  597 

cessories  of  time,  place,  and  circumstance.  The  majority 
of  the  Convention,  however,  uncertain  of  the  people  of  this 
city,  and  apprehensive  that  they  may  take  it  into  their 
heads  to  make  another  revolution  when  they  grow  tired  of 
the  present  state  of  things,  have  called  (privately)  for  a 
guard  from  the  different  departments. 

"This  now  forms  the  bone  of  contention  ;  you  will  see 
in  the  gazettes,  the  arguments  pro  and  con.  I  own  that  I 
think  it  a  false  stroke  in  politics,  though,  as  a  peaceable 
citizen  of  Paris  and  interested  in  the  preservation  of  order, 
it  is  personally  agreeable  to  me.  On  the  ground  of  argu 
ment  it  is  clearly  a  feature  not  republican,  and  prima 
fade  implies  that  the  Convention  means  to  do  things  which 
a  majority  of  the  capital  would  disapprove  ;  and  hence  it 
follows,  again,  that  either  the  interests  of  the  provinces  and 
the  capital  are  different,  or  else  that  the  measures  in  con 
templation  are  contrary  to  the  inclinations  of  both.  But 
it  is  not  on  the  ground  of  theoretic  argument  that  such 
things  are  to  be  tried,  but  from  an  examination  of  proba 
ble  consequences.  A  guard  of  this  sort  evidently  draws  a 
strong,  broad  line  of  separation  between  the  city  and  the 
Convention.  It  gives,  of  course,  many  means  for  operat 
ing  on  the  people  to  those  who  are  opposed  to  the  Con 
vention.  It  is  among  the  things  to  be  calculated  on,  that 
the  guard,  after  it  has  been  here  some  time,  should  catch 
the  spirit  of  the  city,  be  that  what  it  may.  In  such  case, 
instead  of  protectors  they  will  find  enemies  in  their  guard. 
But  admitting  that  this  should  not  happen,  if  the  guard  be 
feeble  it  will  be  overawed  ;  if  strong,  those  who  can  influ 
ence  the  guard  will  command  the  Convention,  who  in  this 
case  will  only  have  changed  masters.  If  any  little  check 
should  happen  on  the  frontiers,  it  will  be  too  unpopular 
to  keep  a  considerable  body  of  men  for  parade  who 
might  be  useful  in  camp,  and  as  soon  as  they  go  the  peo- 
VOL.  II.— 7 


DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF  [CHAP.  XXVI. 

pie  rise  at  once  to  resent  the  insult  offered  to  them. 
It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that  this  guard  will  be  among 
the  reasons  why  the  Convention  may  leave  the  city,  and 
that  would  give  a  very  serious  shock,  and  in  many  ways. 
It  is  to  be  noted,  also,  that  when  they  take  up  the  report  on 
a  form  of  government,  the  opposition  will  find  vast  re 
sources  in  the  opinions  of  the  majority,  let  those  be  what 
they  may. 

"With  respect  to  the  present  temper  of  the  people  of 
this  country,  I  am  clearly  of  opinion  the  decided  effective 
majority  is  now  for  the  republic.  What  may  be  the  tem 
per  and  opinion  six  months  hence  no  present  sensible 
man  would,  I  think,  take  upon  him  to  declare,  much  less 
depend  on  the  form  of  government  which  shall  be  pre 
sented  by  the  Convention.  If  vigorous,  it  is  very  problem 
atical  whether  the  departments  will  adopt  it,  unless  com 
pelled  by  a  sense  of  impending  exterior  dangers ;  if 
feeble,  it  is  (humanly  speaking)  impossible  that  it  can 
control  the  effervescent  temper  of  this  people,  and  that 
appears  sufficiently  by  the  fate  of  the  late  constitution. 
Whether  they  will  be  able  to  strike  out  that  happy  mean 
which  secures  all  the  liberty  which  circumstances  will  ad 
mit  of,  combined  with  all  the  energy  which  the  same  cir 
cumstances  require ;  whether  they  can  establish  an  au 
thority  which  does  not  exist,  as  a  substitute  (and  always  a 
dangerous  substitute)  for  that  respect  which  cannot  be  re 
stored  after  so  much  has  been  done  to  destroy  it;  whether, 
in  crying  down  and  even  ridiculing  religion,  they  will  be 
able,  on  the  tottering  and  uncertain  base  of  metaphysic 
philosophy,  to  establish  a  solid  edifice  of  morals — these  are 
questions  which  time  may  solve." 

Toward  the  end  of  October  Morris  wrote  to  various 
friends  in  America  to  assure  them  of  his  well-being.  To 
Mr.  Samuel  Ogden,  he  said  :  "  The  object  of  this  letter  is 


I792-]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  599 

merely  to  tell  you  that  I  am  still  alive,  after  all  the  scenes 
of  horror  which  have  passed  in  this  country,  and  that  I 
am  ever  mindful  of  my  friends."  To  Robert  Morris,  he 
wrote  :  <;  If  you  do  not  receive  my  letters,  do  not  hence 
conclude  that  I  do  not  write ;  and  even  if  I  do  not  write, 
do  not  hence  conclude  that  I  am  capable  of  forgetting  my 
friends.  About  the  time  of  my  arrival  in  this  city  I  wrote 
little,  having,  indeed,  no  time,  because  I  was  obliged  to 
look  for  a  house,  furniture,  etc.;  and  to  this  must  be  added 
having  to  receive  and  pay  visits.  But  what  from  that  time 
to  this  consumes  many  precious  moments  is  the  applica 
tion  of  all  sorts  of  persons  on  all  sorts  of  subjects  ;  and 
this  I  must  be  exposed  to,  or  risk  the  turning  away  of 
some  whose  objects  might  be  worthy  of  notice.  Others, 
again,  come  to  tell  what  they  know,  and  I  sit  for  an  hour 
together  hearing  patiently  what  I  knew  two  days  before  ; 
but  sometimes  an  additional  circumstance,  sometimes  a 
difference  of  circumstances,  throws  new  light  both  upon 
men  and  things  ;  besides,  if  I  won't  let  them  talk  when 
they  wish  it,  they  won't  talk  when  I  wish  it. 

"  I  think  I  see  you  smile  and  hear  you  say,  '  What  good 
results  from  all  this  ? '  I  answer,  that  a  man  must  work  at 
his  trade,  and  I  will  tell  you  that  I  was  far  the  best  in 
formed  of  our  corps.  This  could  be  of  little  use  to  the 
United  States  from  the  distance  which  intervenes,  but  is 
a  great  means  of  establishing  one's  self  so  as  to  bring 
about  the  objects  of  our  country,  for  then  it  becomes  in 
some  sort  the  interest  of  the  ministers  to  be  well  with  us. 
The  loth  of  August  overset  all  this  town,  but  if  I  had 
foreseen  the  events  of  that  day  I  should  have  pursued  the 
same  conduct.  Seed  sown  liberally  will  produce  some 
thing,  and  I  think  I  have  pretty  good  intelligence  now  of 
the  designs  of  both  those  parties  which  are  at  daggers- 
drawing  in  this  country.  But  there  is  another  reason 


600  DIARY  AND   LETTERS  OF          [CHAP.  XXVI. 

which  at  times  damps  my  correspondence,  and  that  is  the 
uncertainty  and  insecurity  of  the  conveyance." 

In  a  letter  to  Rufus  King,  October  23d,  he  enters  more 
fully  into  the  conditions  of  affairs  and  the  difficulties  of 
his  position. 

"  I  cannot  give  you  such  desirable  intelligence  respect 
ing  the  state  of  things  here  as  I  might  have  done  if  the 
late  revolution  had  not  taken  place,  because  I  find  my  in 
tercourse  of  necessity  suspended,  and  until  I  have  orders 
respecting  the  new  government  I  am  bound  to  preserve  a 
neutrality  of  conduct,  so  that  I  cannot,  as  heretofore,  peep 
behind  the  scenes.  Add  to  this  that  there  is  at  present 
no  very  certain  march  anywhere,  each  feeling  himself 
obliged  to  deviate,  according  to  circumstances,  from  the 
course  which  he  might  wish.  The  late  revolution  has  for 
its  remote  cause  that  excess  in  the  human  temper  which 
drives  men  always  to  extremes  if  not  checked  and  con 
trolled.  For  its  proximate  cause  it  has  the  views  and  de 
fects  of  the  late  constitution,  and  particularly  that  an  ex 
ecutive  without  power  was  rendered  responsible  for  events, 
and  that  a  legislature  composed  of  a  single  chamber  of 
representatives  was  secured  by  every  precaution  and  under 
no  control  except  some  paper  maxims  and  popular  opin 
ion  ;  that  the  people,  or  rather  the  populace,  a  thing  which, 
thank  God,  is  unknown  in  America,  flattered  with  the  idea 
that  they  are  omnipotent,  and  disappointed  from  necessity 
in  the  golden  prospects  originally  held  out  to  them,  were 
under  no  restraint  except  such  as  might  be  imposed  by 
magistrates  of  their  own  choice.  It  resulted  inevitably 
that  the  executive  must  be  in  the  power  of  the  legislative, 
and  this  last  at  the  mercy  of  such  men  as  could  influence 
the  mob.  By  reducing  the  royal  authority  below  all  rea 
sonable  measure  the  constitution-makers  had  created  a 
moral  impossibility — that  the  people  should  believe  the 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR   MORRIS.  6OI 

King  sincere  in  his  acceptance,  even  if  it  had  been  possi 
ble  that  he  should,  without  regret,  have  beheld  himself 
reduced  from  the  first  place  allotted  to  man  to  a  state  as 
low  as  to  be  exposed  to  insult  from  the  lowest.  It  was 
evident,  then,  the  Constitution  could  not  last,  and  in  the 
overturn  three  things  might  happen  ;  viz.,  the  establish 
ment  of  despotism,  the  establishment  of  a  good  constitu 
tion,  or  the  institution  of  a  democracy.  The  first,  under 
an  able  and  ambitious  prince,  was  inevitable  ;  the  second 
was  extremely  difficult,  not  in  itself,  but  because  the 
chiefs  of  different  parties  all  found  themselves  committed 
to  different  points  and  opinions.  The  last  was  only  a  nat 
ural  continuation  of  the  progress  of  men's  minds  in  a 
necessary  succession  of  ideas  from  the  "  Bill  of  Rights." 
The  advocates  for  republican  government  therefore  had 
an  easy  task,  although  both  to  themselves  and  others  it 
appeared  difficult.  From  the  moment  that  the  second 
Assembly  met,  a  plan  was  formed  among  several  of  the 
members  and  others  to  overturn  the  Constitution  they 
had  just  sworn  to  observe,  and  establish  a  republic.  This 
arose  in  part  from  the  desire  of  placing  themselves  better 
than  they  could  otherwise  do,  and  in  part  from  a  convic 
tion  that  the  system  could  not  last  and  that  they  would 
have  no  share  in  the  administration  under  a  pure  mon 
archy.  As  they  had  a  strong  hold  upon  the  lowest  class 
of  people,  as  the  aristocrats  and  constitutional  parties 
were  at  open  war,  as  these  last  avowed  openly  their  wish 
to  amend,  in  other  words,  to  change  the  Constitution, 
which  at  the  same  time  they  assumed  to  venerate,  it  was 
not  a  difficult  matter  to  assault  a  monarch  who  adhered 
to  that  form  which  he  could  not  be  supposed  to  approve, 
and  whose  faults  became  daily  more  and  more  apparent. 
Add  to  this  that  the  Court  was  involved  in  a  spirit  of 
little,  paltry  intrigue,  unworthy  of  anything  above  the 


6O2  DIARY  AND   LETTERS   OF          [CHAP.  XXVI. 

rank  of  footmen  and  chambermaids.  Everyone  had  his 
or  her  little  project,  and  every  little  project  had  some 
abettors.  Strong,  manly  counsels  frightened  the  weak, 
alarmed  the  envious,  and  wounded  the  enervate  mind  of 
the  lazy  and  luxurious.  Such  counsels,  therefore  (if  per 
chance  any  such  appeared),  were  approved  but  not  adopt 
ed,  certainly  not  followed.  The  palace  was  always  filled 
with  people  whose  language,  whose  conduct,  and  whose 
manner  were  so  diametrically  opposite  to  everything  like 
liberty,  that  it  was  easy  to  persuade  the  people  that  the 
Court  meant  to  destroy  the  Constitution  by  observing 
strictly  the  Constitution.  Some  persons  avowed  this  tactic, 
which  from  the  moment  of  such  avowal  was  no  longer 
worth  a  doit. 

"The  King,  whose  integrity  would  never  listen  to  any 
thing  like  the  violation  of  his  oath,  had  nevertheless  the 
weakness  to  permit  those  who  openly  avowed  unconstitu 
tional  sentiments  to  approach  his  person  and  enjoy  his  in 
timacy.  The  Queen  was  the  more  prudent.  The  repub 
licans  (who  had  also  their  plan  to  destroy  the  Constitution 
by  the  Constitution)  founded  on  the  King's  personal  in 
tegrity  their  operation  to  destroy  his  reputation  for  in 
tegrity  and  hold  him  out  to  the  world  as  a  traitor  to  the 
nation  whom  he  was  sworn  to  protect.  They,  in  conse 
quence,  seized  every  occasion  to  pass  popular  decrees 
which  were  unconstitutional.  If  the  King  used  his  veto, 
he  was  accused  of  wishing  a  counter-revolution  ;  if  he 
sanctioned  the  decree,  he  was  so  far  lost  with  those  who 
were  injured  by  the  decree,  and,  of  course,  became  daily 
more  and  more  unprotected.  The  success  of  his  enemies 
was  beyond  their  own  expectation.  His  palace  was  as 
saulted.  He  took  refuge  with  the  Assembly,  and  is  now 
a  prisoner  of  State." 

"You    will  have   seen,"  Morris   wrote,   October   24th, 


i792.]  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.  603 

to  Alexander  Hamilton,  "  that  the  late  Constitution  of 
this  country  has  overset — a  natural  accident  to  a  thing 
which  was  all  sail  and  no  ballast.  I  desire  much  to  know 
the  state  of  opinion  with  us  on  that  subject.  The  flight  of 
M.  de  Lafayette,  the  murder  of  the  Due  de  la  Rochefou- 
cault  and  others,  with  many  similar  circumstances,  have, 
I  know,  affected  the  ideas  of  some.  But  what  will  be 
the  republican  sense  as  to  the  new  Republic  ?  Will  it  be 
taken  for  granted  that  Louis  the  Sixteenth  was  guilty  of 
all  possible  crimes,  and  particularly  of  the  enormous  one 
of  not  suffering  his  throat  to  be  cut,  which  was  certainly 
a  nefarious  plot  against  the  people.  Whatever  may  be 
the  opinions,  we  are  done  with  kings  in  France,  at  least  for 
the  present.  There  are  two  parties  here,  who  drive  hard 
at  each  other.  The  one  consists  of  about  half  a  dozen, 
and  the  other  of  fifteen  or  twenty,  who  are  at  daggers- 
drawing.  Each  claims  the  merit  of  having  begotten  the 
young  republic  upon  the  body  of  the  Jacobin  Club,  and 
notwithstanding  the  dispute  is  very  loud  and  open,  the 
people  is  as  fond  of  the  child  as  if  it  were  its  own.  But 
this  has  a  relation  to  ancient  manners ;  for  there  has  been 
a  practice  here  from  time  to  time,  whereof  there  is  no 
memory  of  man  to  the  contrary,  viz.,  that  one  set  of  men 
were  employed  in  getting  children  for  another  set.  It  is 
not  worth  while  to  detail  the  characters  of  those  now  on 
the  stage,  because  they  must  soon  give  place  to  others." 

"It  is  confirmed  to  me  to-day,"  says  the  diary  for  Novem 
ber  2d,  "  that  the  Government  have  written  to  America  urg 
ing  my  recall.  There  seems  to  be  much  movement  in 
Paris.  Robespierre  has  got  through  his  affairs  with  Jclat" 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  Louvet,  one  of  the  most  res 
olute  men  in  the  Girondist  party,  accused  Robespierre  of 
calumniating  the  most  virtuous  patriots,  of  offering  the 
basest  flatteries  to  a  hundred  citizens.  He  described 


6o4 


GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS. 


[CHAP.  XXVI. 


Robespierre's  intrigues,  his  ambition,  his  great  ascend 
ency  over  the  people,  interspersing  his  vehement  philippic 
with  the  appalling  sentence,  "Robespierre,  I  accuse  thee." 
Morris  alludes  to  the  fact  that  Robespierre,  after  de 
manding  a  delay  of  eight  days  to  prepare  his  defence,  ap 
peared  at  the  end  of  that  time  in  the  light  of  a  triumphant 
antagonist,  rather  than  an  accused  person. 


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